XMLDB Whitepapers and Tooling about Design, Performance and Selectivity

From time to time the main Oracle XML DB page gets updated with new whitepapers, tooling or Oracle By Example/ Hands-on Lab examples. “Lately” some cool and interesting new whitepapers and updated tooling content were created on this main Oracle XML DB page. The following items and content are really worth reading. Small issue, though, is that you need a bit more than basic understanding to put all this “lessons learned from the last one, two years” into context, but its worth it and otherwise a small reprise on the Oracle XML DB Developers Guide is always useful. A bit like re-reading the Oracle Concepts Manual.

• Technology Preview: Oracle XML DB Ease of Use Tools for Structured Storage (ZIP)

The “Ease of Use Tools” (xdbutilities.zip tool set) for handling XMLType Object Relational storage has been updated and is now applicable on Oracle 10.x and 11.x. No specific to be installed versioned tool set needed anymore. This prepacked tool set on PL/SQL packages is installable on both versions. The zip file also contains a whitepaper that describes some of the (performance) lessons learned while using XMLType Object Relational storage.

• Oracle XML DB : Choosing the Best XMLType Storage Option for Your Use Case (PDF)

“Choosing the Best XMLType Storage Option for Your Use Case” gives you a good overview on what to choose regarding design / supporting structure principles and performance indications on what works best for your XML document.

• Oracle XML DB : Best Practices to Get Optimal Performance out of XML Queries (PDF)

“Best Practices to Get Optimal Performance out of XML Queries” has been written with the other two in mind. The principles and design decisions are the basis on which the XPath and XQuery solutions are explained. You will have to have a good understanding of the other two to effective implement the advice given in this whitepaper. In all a good whitepaper with lots of lessons learned and a bit of inside information if you can read between the lines on how things tick in XML DB land.

Very useful information if you seek a bit more detailed information after the Oracle XML DB Developers Guide doesn’t supply all the answers anymore.

M.