XQuery

Working with Positions and Sequence Numbers

Determining positions and generating sequence numbers are sometimes challenging to query authors who are accustomed to procedural programming languages. Because XQuery is a declarative rather than a procedural language, it is not possible to use familiar techniques like counters. In addition, the sorting and filtering of results can interfere with sequence numbers. This section describes some techniques for working with positions and sequence numbers.

Adding Sequence Numbers to Results

Suppose you want to return a list of product names preceded by a sequence number. Your first approach might be to use a variable as a counter, as shown in Example 9-8. However, the results are not what you might expect. This is because the return clause for each iteration is evaluated in parallel rather than sequentially. This means that you cannot make changes to the value of a variable in one iteration, and expect it to affect the next iteration of the for clause. At the beginning of every iteration, the $count variable is equal to 0.

Example 9-8. Attempting to use a counter variable

Query
let $count := 0
for $prod in doc("catalog.xml")//product[@dept = ("ACC", "WMN")]
let $count := $count + 1
return <p>{$count}. {data($prod/name)}</p>
Results
<p>1. Fleece Pullover</p>
<p>1. Floppy Sun Hat</p>
<p>1. Deluxe Travel Bag</p>

Another temptation might be to use the position function, as shown in Example 9-9. However, this will return the same results as the previous ...