Better way to structure XQuery

[Christian Grün]

> The following code is what I have now, and it works. But something tells
> me it can be better. I am using XQuery implementation within the eXist
> database if that helps.
>
> let $mydoc :=doc('http://localhost:8080/exist/rest/db/bio.xml')
> let $profileType := 'Standard'
> let $paths := ($mydoc/metadata/idinfo/spdom/bounding/boundalt/altmin,
> $mydoc/metadata/idinfo/spdom/bounding/boundalt/altmax, path3, path4, ...)
>
> for $p in $paths
>   let $profileType := if ($p) then 'Biological' else $profileType

Stacy,
I don't know if this helps, but you your query could be simplified as follows:

  let $mydoc := doc('http://localhost:8080/exist/rest/db/bio.xml')
  let $profileType :=
    if(
      $mydoc/metadata/idinfo/spdom/bounding/boundalt/altmin,
      $mydoc/metadata/idinfo/spdom/bounding/boundalt/altmax,
      path3, path4, ...
    ) then 'Biological' else 'Standard'
  return
    ...

If one of the paths exists, $profileType will be set to 'Biological'.
- As variables cannot be assigned more than once in XQuery, a second
assignment of $profileType will just hide the first one.

Best,

Christian,
http://basex.org