Query translation from SQL to XPath

Today XML is the de facto standard of data exchange format for the information on the Web. At the same time, database systems are well known for consistent storage, retrieval and manipulation of data. XML querying language (XPath) is used to access XML documents whereas Structured Query Language (SQL) for retrieving and manipulating data in relational database. It may not be possible for users and developers to be familiar with both the query languages easily and quickly. Here, we examine how XML data can be queried using SQL. In this paper, we propose a new concept and framework where SQL statements can be easily transformed to XPath expressions. We use SQL, as it has long been the standard language. Users can access XML database and relational database through the query language SQL using our framework. We present algorithms for translating queries expressed in SQL (SELECT, DELETE, RENAME) to XPath. The procedure provides relational interface to XML database and the experimental results validate the proposed approach.