A new data model for XML databases

The widespread activity involving the Internet and the Web causes large amounts of electronic data to be generated every day. This includes, in particular, semi-structured textual data such as electronic documents, computer programs, log files, transaction records, literature citations, and emails. Storing and manipulating the data thus produced has proven difficult. As conventional DBMSs are not suitable for handling semi-structured data, there is a strong demand for systems that are capable of handling large volumes of complex data in an efficient and reliable way. The Extensible Markup Language (XML) provides such solution. In this paper, we present the concept of a ‘vertical view model’ and its uses as a mapping mechanism for converting complex XML data to relational database tables, and as a standalone data model for storing complex XML data. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.