Solutions for XML - DataDirect XQuery

Projects that require aggregating data from various sources such as XML, relational databases, and legacy formats can prove to be a significant challenge. That was what DataDirect customer Gevity experienced when developing its new Pricing Engine - a tool for pricing proposals in real-time, and a project that required integrating relational data, web services, and XML.

Using DataDirect XQuery, Gevity was able to deliver the project on time and under budget, even though it required the use of a new query language. Delivering this tool ahead of competitors gave Gevity a significant advantage, enabling its sales team to provide prospects with on-the-spot pricing information. This effectively eliminated competitors who take days to do the same thing.

The Gevity story demonstrates why the XQuery approach to handling XML is being used more and more. Like Gevity, using DataDirect XQuery can help you manage heterogeneous data sources in XML applications, whether that application is a commercial software product or corporate business system. DataDirect XQuery is the right solution if your application or report needs to:

• Integrate relational data and XML
• Integrate legacy data sources for example, comma-separated or EDI files
• Access and process very large XML files
• Simply query XML

Get XML Projects Done Faster

DataDirect XQuery helps you get the above types of projects done faster because:

• It is flexible and easily embeddable. DataDirect XQuery doesn't require any servers or other software like other XQuery implementations on the market. Because DataDirect XQuery resides in the middle tier, along with your application, your XQueries and application are insulated from any changes to the database or other underlying software.
• It provides a standards-based, not proprietary, XQuery solution for all major databases, legacy data sources, and XML of any size (even multiple gigabytes), allowing any of these data sources to be integrated seamlessly in your architecture.
• It is easy for developers to learn and use.
• It fits easily into today's architectures such as SOAs and alleviates the problems of working with the mismatch of XML and other data sources.

Maximize Your Development Resources

Development schedules are typically very aggressive and require technologies that make the most of precious development resources. Using proprietary tools for working with XML documents requires lots of manual coding and adds quite a bit of time to the maintenance and development effort.

On the other hand, DataDirect XQuery makes the best use of your development resources and requires less maintenance because:

• It adheres completely to the W3C XQuery Standard, whereas other XQuery tools use proprietary extensions, requiring additional coding and re-coding of XQueries every time a new version of the tool is released.
• Its interface to Java is analogous to JDBC for SQL queries and is based on the XQuery for Java API (XQJ) standard. This familiar interface enables developers to be productive right away.
• It cuts way back on the learning curve. Even though XQuery is a new language, DataDirect XQuery makes XQuery easy to learn and use because it integrates with both the <oXygen> XML Editor for Eclipse and the Stylus Studio IDE. These tools enable developers to create and test XQueries immediately and validate them before integrating them into the application.

Deliver High-Performing, Scalable, Stable Applications

It's clear that XQuery is now recognized as one of the best approaches to handling and processing XML. And there is simply no XQuery implementation equivalent to DataDirect XQuery. But there are other reasons beyond the design and development phases for choosing DataDirect XQuery:

• Significantly faster processing time - DataDirect XQuery dramatically outperforms other tools or hand-coded applications. Real-world benchmarking reveals that DataDirect XQuery takes a fraction of the time to do the same work as other tools on the market (e.g., 10 seconds vs. 8 minutes). That's because DataDirect XQuery allows the XQuery to be executed as efficiently as possible - decomposing it into SQL statements and moving just the minimum amount of data required from the database. Other XQuery products return large chunks of data and then perform additional steps to retrieve the data, which slows processing.
• Unmatched scalability - DataDirect XQuery supports XML streaming and document projection to drastically reduce the amount of memory required when processing large XML documents (e.g., 20+ GB). Other XQuery products fail when attempting the same operation. Read how RLPTechnologies processes extremely large XML files using DataDirect XQuery and found the performance and stability they required.
• Stability - DataDirect XQuery provides stability for developers through our standards-based XQuery and XQJ implementations. In addition, with a new market like XQuery, you need to be assured of the vendor's stability. DataDirect XQuery passes the XML Query Test Suite (XQTS) with 99+% compliancy and is the only vendor to provide this level of XQuery support across ALL supported data sources - XML, relational, and various legacy data formats. You can be confident that DataDirect XQuery is thoroughly tested in production conditions and backed by a company with over 15 years experience, financial stability, and consistent, responsive technical support.

Let DataDirect Help you Deliver XML Applications Faster

DataDirect XQuery is the XQuery implementation of choice — whether you're just querying XML or making it the cornerstone of your web services and SOA strategy. However you want to use your data, DataDirect can help you deliver those applications faster.

Learn more about DataDirect Solutions for Mainframe Integration.

To speak with an expert about our products and licensing options call 1-800-876-3101 or submit a Request for Information form and an account executive will contact you.