1. Using XML files as real corpora making an XML database with the dbXML program http://www.dbxml.com

2. The dbXML program The dbXML program is one of a range of programs that lets you use a set of XML files as a database. The program is free and can be downloaded from the web. It is likely that many more programs like this will be springing up over the next couple of years.

3. Basic concepts Using a database requires the following basic concepts –the set of files you are looking at is called a collection –a collection of files must be indexed so that the program can find things quickly –you ask questions by posting queries to the database manager

4. Using the dbXML program to manage an XML database Our starting point assumes that we have some set of marked-up XML files that we want to manage. We first set up these files as a database We then use the dbXML tool for extracting information from this database.

5. Example XML files in our data set

6. Steps… Now we will see: –how to add a collection of files to a database –how to index those files –how to ask queries to get information about the content of those files

7. Getting started… (1) First, we need to start up the DBXML server program This is the program the does all the actual work. To do this: –Make sure you know where the dbxml folder is –Run the program startup-server.bat in that folder (e.g., by double clicking on it). –This should start the dbxml server with a message like: dbXML 2.0 (Dragonfly) Logging to E:\junk\logging\dbXML.out

8. Getting started…(2) Next, we turn a set of XML files into an XML database. To do this we must start the dbxml administration program and tell it which files to use. –Start a DOS-Command window –Make sure you know where the dbxml folder is –Run the command ‘startup-command-line.bat’ that is in the dbxml folder –This should then start the dbxml program and you should get something that looks like the window on the next slide…

9. The program when it starts…

10. The DBXML administration actions Now you can tell the program which files you want to include in your database. –To do this, you first have to login to the program: You must use exactly this name and password for the moment! –make a collection –Finally, go to the collection and say that everyone is allowed to look at it and exit: connect user= scott pass= tiger mkcol myXMLfiles col myXMLfiles grant admin READ WRITE EXECUTE CREATE exit

11. The dbXML program proper With the administrative details aside, we can start the main program. Find the dbxml item in the normal program start menu from Windows and click on it. This should bring up the following window: If it does not, or if you cannot find it, you will have to ask for help.

12. Finding your collection Expand the items in the list under “localhost” until you find the collection that you made in the previous step.

13. Finding your collection

14. Adding files to your collection Expand your collection to find the ‘documents’ Click on this. Select ‘Documents> Import Documents’ from the menu bar. You will then be asked which files are to be added to the collection. Previous slide

15. When you have added your documents… select them all at one go if possible … you then have to index them…

16. Select the indexes folder in your collection…

17. Define an index as follows… 1.Give the index a name 2.Then you must type “pattern=*@*” to index all ELEMENTS + ATTRIBUTES 3.and click on create. 1 2 3

18. … you can now ask questions about their content using XPath XSLT full text QUERY WINDOW RESULT WINDOW

19. Selecting all ‘turns’ in the corpus

20. Selecting all ‘attrib’ in the corpus

21. The results…. are presented as XML therefore you can pass them straight to a style sheet to look at them…