DVQ: Towards visual query processing of XML database systems

XML has been recognized as a promising language for data exchange over the Internet. A number of query languages have been proposed for querying XML data. Most of those languages are path-expression based. One difficulty in forming path-expression based queries is that users have to know the structure of XML data against which the queries were issued. In this paper, we describe a DTD-driven visual query interface for XML database systems. With such an interface, a user can easily form path-expression based queries by clicking elements in the DTD tree displayed on the screen and supplying conditions if necessary. The interface and the query generation process are described in detail.