• Chapter 1: Getting Started with Stylus Studio®
• Chapter 2: Editing and Querying XML
• Chapter 3: Converting Non-XML Files to XML
• Chapter 4: Working with XSLT
• Chapter 5: Creating XSLT Using the XSLT Mapper
• Chapter 6: Debugging Stylesheets
• Chapter 7: Defining XML Schemas
• Chapter 8: Defining Document Type Definitions
• Chapter 9: Writing XPath Expressions
• Chapter 10: Working with XQuery in Stylus Studio
  • Getting Started with XQuery in Stylus Studio
  • Building an XQuery Using the Mapper
  • Debugging XQuery Documents
  • Creating an XQuery Scenario
    • Specifying XML Input
    • Working with Collections
      • Collection Names
      • Using Collections in XQuery Code
      • How Collections are Processed
      • How to Create a Collection
    • Selecting an XQuery Processor
    • Setting Default Options for Processors
    • Setting Values for External Variables
    • Performance Metrics Reporting
    • Validating XQuery Results
    • How to Create a Scenario
    • How to Run a Scenario
    • How to Clone a Scenario
  • Generating Java Code for XQuery
• Chapter 11: Composing Web Service Calls
• Chapter 12: Accessing Relational Data as XML
• Chapter 13: Integrating with Third-Party File Systems
• Chapter 14: Extending Stylus Studio
• Chapter 15: Stylus Studio GUI Reference

Home > Online Product Documentation > Table of Contents > Working with Collections

Working with Collections

In Stylus Studio, a collection is defined by

Once you create a collection, you can use the collection name as the argument for the collection() function in your XQuery code. You begin creating collections on the General tab of the Scenario Properties dialog box. See How to Create a Collection for more information.

A complete list of the videos demonstrating Stylus Studio's features is here: http://www.stylusstudio.com/xml_videos.html.

Collection Names

Collection names are created automatically by Stylus Studio. Initially, Stylus Studio uses a default placeholder name, coll1, coll2, and so on. Once you identify the relational table or view on which you wish you base the collection, Stylus Studio replaces the default name with the name of the table or view ( pubs.dbo.authors, for example).

Using Collections in XQuery Code

The XQuery collection() function is similar to the document() function, but instead of taking as its argument a URL that identifies a document, the collection() function in Stylus Studio takes a collection name - collection(`pubs.dbo.authors'), for example. The collection name must be surrounded with single quotes, and it must be the same as it appears in the Name field of the Defined collections table on the General tab of the Scenario Properties dialog box.

Note that the collection() function is implementation-specific - different vendors have implemented it in different ways. In some implementations, for example, the collection() function takes as its argument a URL that specifies an XML document.

How Collections are Processed

The Stylus Studio built-in processor and the DataDirect XQuery processor process collections differently:

Because it processes XQuery as SQL on the database server, the DataDirect XQuery processor can provide performance superior to that of other XQuery processors.

How to Create a Collection

To create a collection:

A new collection is added to the list box with a default name ( coll1, for example).

The URL field becomes active. A browse button ( ) appears on the right side of the field.

The Open dialog box appears with the URL Builder tab selected.

See Using the URL Builder if you need help with this step.

Alternative: You can type the URL manually if you know the database URL.

You can now reference the collection in the collection() functions in your XQuery code.