• Chapter 1: Getting Started with Stylus Studio®
• Chapter 2: Editing and Querying XML
• Chapter 3: Converting Non-XML Files to XML
• Chapter 4: Working with XSLT
• Chapter 5: Creating XSLT Using the XSLT Mapper
• Chapter 6: Debugging Stylesheets
• Chapter 7: Defining XML Schemas
• Chapter 8: Defining Document Type Definitions
• Chapter 9: Writing XPath Expressions
• Chapter 10: Working with XQuery in Stylus Studio
  • Getting Started with XQuery in Stylus Studio
  • An XQuery Primer
    • What is XQuery For?
    • Your First XQueries
    • Accessing XML Documents with XQuery
    • XQuery and XPath
    • Introduction to FLWOR Expressions
    • Generating XML Output with XQuery
    • Accessing Databases with XQuery
  • Understanding FLWOR Expressions
  • Building an XQuery Using the Mapper
  • Working with the XQuery collection() Function
  • Debugging XQuery Documents
  • Creating an XQuery Scenario
  • Generating XQuery Documentation
  • Using XQuery to Invoke a Web Service
  • Generating Java Code for XQuery
• Chapter 11: Composing Web Service Calls
• Chapter 12: Accessing Relational Data as XML
• Chapter 13: Building XML Pipelines
• Chapter 14: Publishing XML Data
• Chapter 15: Integrating with Third-Party File Systems
• Chapter 16: Extending Stylus Studio
• Chapter 17: The Stylus Studio Java API
• Chapter 18: Stylus Studio GUI Reference

Home > Online Product Documentation > Table of Contents > What is XQuery For?

What is XQuery For?

XQuery was devised primarily as a query language for data stored in XML form. So its main role is to get information out of XML databases - this includes relational databases that store XML data, or that present an XML view of the data they hold.

Some people are also using XQuery for manipulating free-standing XML documents, for example, for transforming messages passing between applications. In that role XQuery competes directly with XSLT, and which language you choose is largely a matter of personal preference.

In fact, some people like XQuery so much that they are even using it for rendering XML into HTML for presentation. That's not really the job XQuery was designed for, and there are other technologies, like XSLT, that are better suited for this purpose, but once you get to know a tool, you tend to find new ways of using it.