Importing XML for Newbies

I need to store log files that are created in XML format so I can query some
of the fields. I have only minor knowledge of XML, but have been SQL DBA fo
r
a while. I just have not had a need to use XML in the SQL environment. We
are using SQL2000. What is the best way to do the following:
1. Create a DB for storing the log files? Some variation on the usual way?
2. Import the individual files into the DB. Eventually I can write a DTS or
something to import?
3. Query the DB. Create some reports on usage.
If somene could post a link to get me started it would be very helpful.DaveK wrote:
> I need to store log files that are created in XML format so I can query so
me
> of the fields.
Why not just use an XQuery implementation to query them direct? I see no
requirement here to involve a database at all.
///Peter

> I have only minor knowledge of XML, but have been SQL DBA for
> a while. I just have not had a need to use XML in the SQL environment. W
e
> are using SQL2000. What is the best way to do the following:
> 1. Create a DB for storing the log files? Some variation on the usual way
?
> 2. Import the individual files into the DB. Eventually I can write a DTS
or
> something to import?
> 3. Query the DB. Create some reports on usage.|||After a five minute web search and SQL help search I don't see how I can
avoid using SQL to build some sort of datbase just so I can address backup,
security, etc. It looks like XPath and XQuery can do some searching, but th
e
other items that I need to cover are not really addressed. This is an
example of one event log item I want to store.
<CreateDate>7/31/2007</CreateDate>
<CreateTime>10:19:25</CreateTime>
<Logger>xxxxd7yrrt11</Logger>
<Events>
<Event>
<EventID>8001</EventID>
<Description>Login</Description>
<Category>Audit</Category>
<Source>LAN Client</Source>
<SubSource>xxxx_8</SubSource>
<UserName>test.name</UserName>
<UserID>347</UserID>
<Computer>xxx7YRRT11</Computer>
<Date>07/31/2007</Date>
<Time>10:19:49</Time>
<ObjectType>User</ObjectType>
<Details></Details>
</Event>
I have to admit I am not a convert to the XML world, but as I said, I am a
newbie to it as well. In this case it just seems like a fancy way to
eliminate delimited importing. The format is not likely to change.|||DaveK wrote:
> After a five minute web search and SQL help search I don't see how I can
> avoid using SQL to build some sort of datbase just so I can address backup
,
> security, etc. It looks like XPath and XQuery can do some searching, but
the
> other items that I need to cover are not really addressed. This is an
> example of one event log item I want to store.
> <CreateDate>7/31/2007</CreateDate>
> <CreateTime>10:19:25</CreateTime>
> <Logger>xxxxd7yrrt11</Logger>
> <Events>
> <Event>
> <EventID>8001</EventID>
> <Description>Login</Description>
> <Category>Audit</Category>
> <Source>LAN Client</Source>
> <SubSource>xxxx_8</SubSource>
> <UserName>test.name</UserName>
> <UserID>347</UserID>
> <Computer>xxx7YRRT11</Computer>
> <Date>07/31/2007</Date>
> <Time>10:19:49</Time>
> <ObjectType>User</ObjectType>
> <Details></Details>
> </Event>
> I have to admit I am not a convert to the XML world, but as I said, I am a
> newbie to it as well. In this case it just seems like a fancy way to
> eliminate delimited importing. The format is not likely to change.
AFAIK all database systems now offer some kind of "Import XML" plugin.
If yours doesn't, you'll need to turn the XML into CSV or whatever your
system consumes. The easiest way to do this is to write an XSLT script,
and I think there are several quoted or linked in Dave Pawson's XSL FAQ
at http://www.dpawson.co.uk/xsl/
XML is just a fancy way of identifying information: you can see from the
above example that it is much clearer in naming items and positioning
them in the hierarchy than (for example) CSV. If the format is stable,
then a little routine to run XSLT over the data and spit out CSV should
do you just fine.
The following appears to work for the sample above (with the addition of
the missing </Events> end-tag and the enclosing root element
<data>...</data> ):
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="text"/>
<xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:apply-templates select="data/CreateDate"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="data/CreateTime"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="data/Logger"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="data/Events/Event/*"/>
</xsl:template>
<!-- fields that start a record -->
<xsl:template match="CreateDate|EventID">
<xsl:text>"</xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select="."/>
</xsl:template>
<!-- fields that occur in mid-record -->
<xsl:template match="*">
<xsl:text>,"</xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select="."/>
<xsl:text>"</xsl:text>
</xsl:template>
<!-- fields that end a record -->
<xsl:template match="Logger|Details">
<xsl:text>,"</xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select="."/>
<xsl:text>" </xsl:text>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
$ java -jar /usr/local/saxon/b8.5/saxon8.jar -o test.csv test.xml test.xsl
$ cat test.csv
"7/31/2007,"10:19:25","xxxxd7yrrt11"
"8001,"Login","Audit","LAN
Client","xxxx_8","test.name","347","xxx7YRRT11","07/31/2007","10:19:49","Use
r",""
$
This makes the assumption that your import routine can do something
different with record #1...
///Peter
--
XML FAQ: http://xml.silmaril.ie/|||Thank you. This is very helpful. I did not paste in the whole log so misse
d
the ending tags.