A METHOD FOR DATA RETRIEVAL USING TREE-STRUCTURED QUERY WITH RETURNED RESULT SET IN XML FORMAT

摘要

The present invention provides a technique by which complex queries can bedefined and executedin a very flexible and efficient manner. It allows user to define therelationships between a parentand its different children, which can be nested to n-depth levels. Therelationships are mapped to aspecial tree structure and the query processor executes the query based on thetree in an efficientway. The output data is also constructed in the defined tree structure in XMLby default, whicheliminates data redundancy. The output can be formatted either in ExtensibleMarkup Language(XML) or HyperText Markup Language (HTML) format.The present invention also provides two mechanisms to allow user to define thequery: eitherthrough configuration files or through a graphical user interface. It isdesigned in such a way that itcan be easily implemented as stand-alone application, for batch processing, orinteracting with otherapplications. The query processing module and the graphical user interfacemodules are written inthe Java programming language and the Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)technologies.The technique of data retrieval disclosed in this invention is different fromexisting techniques in itshigh degree of flexibility and complexity in terms of the query structure, yetefficient processing andaccurate output result. Because the output is also in tree structure, iteliminates data redundancy andmore readable. Furthermore, it is designed as generic as possible and can beused for any dataretrieval as long as a tree structure can be defined among the tables ornodes. It can be used in awide range of systems for database publishing, content management, supplychain management(CRM), electronic data interchange (EDI), and other e-business applicationsand middleware.