Integrity Constraints for XML and beyond

It is increasingly common to use XML to represent data currently residing in databases. With this comes the need for a full treatment of integrity constraints for XML such as key, foreign key, functional, inclusion and inverse constraints, which are commonly found in databases to convey an essential part of the semantics of the data. The goal of this project is to develop XML specifications with constraints, to advance understanding of consistency and implication of XML constraints, as well as to explore applications of constraints in XML data transformations and integration such as information preservation, constraint propagation and normalization of XML specifications. In pursuit of this goal, methods for specifying and reasoning about XML constraints are being developed, and transformation techniques and tools in the XML context are being implemented and evaluated. Results from the project are expected to yield insight into integrity constraints for hierarchically structured data, including but not limited to XML.

People:

Publications:

• Propagating XML Constraints to Relations
  Journal of Computer and System Sciences (JCSS), 73(3):316-361, May 2007.
  Susan Davidson, Wenfei Fan, Carmem Hara
  
  
• Consistency Issues in XML Databases
  Inconsistency Tolerance , to be published in the Springer LNCS "state of the art" subseries.
  Marcelo Arenas, Wenfei Fan and Leonid Libkin
  
  
• XML Contraints: Specification, Analysis, and Applications
  First International Workshop on Logical Aspect and Applications of Integrity Constraints(LAAIC), 2005
  Wenfei Fan (invited talk)
  
  
• Propagating XML Constraints to Relations [.pdf]
  The 19th International Conference on Data Engineering (ICDE), 2003
  Susan Davidson, Wenfei Fan, Carmem Hara, and Jing Qin
  
  
• Interaction between Path and Type Constraints [.pdf]
  ACM Transactions on Computational Logic (TOCL) 4(4):530-577, October 2003.
  Peter Buneman, Wenfei Fan, and Scott Weinstein
  
  
• Integrity Constraints for XML [.pdf]
  Journal of Computer and System Sciences (JCSS), 66(1):254-291, February 2003.
  Wenfei Fan and Jérôme Siméon
  
  
• Reasoning about Keys for XML
  Information Systems, 28(8): 1037-1063, December 2003.
  Peter Buneman, Susan Davidson, Wenfei Fan, Carmem Hara, WangChiew Tan
  
  
• On XML Integrity Constraints in the Presence of DTDs [.pdf]
  Journal of the ACM (JACM), Volume 49 , Issue 3, pp 368 - 406, May 2002.
  Wenfei Fan and Leonid Libkin
  
  
• On Verifying Consistency of XML Specifications [.ps]  [.pdf]
  Proceedings of the 21st ACM Symposium on Principles of Database Systems (PODS),2002
  Marcelo Arenas, Wenfei Fan and Leonid Libkin
  
  
• What's Hard about XML Schema Constraints? [.pdf]
  The 13th International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications(DEXA), 2002, LNCS 2453, pp. 269-278, Spinger.
  Marcelo Arenas, Wenfei Fan and Leonid Libkin
  
  
• Keys for XML [.pdf]
  Computer Networks, Volume 39, Issue 5, August 2002, pp 473 - 487. The Best Paper of the Year Award for Computer Networks Special Issue on XML.
  Peter Buneman, Susan Davidson, Wenfei Fan, Carmem Hara, WangChiew Tan
  
  
• Unified Constraint Model for XML [.pdf]
  Computer Networks, Volume 39, Issue 5, August 2002, pp 489 - 505.
  Wenfei Fan, Gabriel Kuper, and Jérôme Siméon.
  
  
• On XML Integrity Constraints in the Presence of DTDs
  Proceedings of the 20th ACM Symposium on Principles of Database Systems (PODS),2001
  Wenfei Fan and Leonid Libkin
  
  
• Constraints for Semistructured Data and XML [.ps]
  SIGMOD Record 30(1), March 2001.
  Peter Buneman, Wenfei Fan, Jérôme Siméon and Scott Weinstein
  
  
• Keys for XML
  The 10th International World Wide Web Conference (WWW), 2001
  Peter Buneman, Susan Davidson, Wenfei Fan, Carmem Hara, WangChiew Tan
  
  
• A Unified Constraint Model for XML
  The 10th International World Wide Web Conference (WWW), 2001
  Wenfei Fan, Gabriel Kuper, and Jérôme Siméon.
  
  
• Reasoning about Keys for XML(relative keys) [.ps]
  International Workshop on Database Programming Languages (DBPL), 2001 Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) 2397, pp. 133-148.
  Peter Buneman, Susan Davidson, Wenfei Fan, Carmem Hara, WangChiew Tan
  
  
• Keys with Upward Wildcards for XML [.ps]
  The 12th International Conference and on Database and Expert Systems Applications (DEXA), 2001 LNCS 2113 , pp. 657-667, Spinger.
  Wenfei Fan , Peter Schwenzer, and Kun Wu
  
  
• Path Constraints in Semistructured Databases [.ps]  [.pdf]
  Journal of Computer and System Sciences (JCSS) 61(2): 146-193, October 2000.
  Peter Buneman, Wenfei Fan, and Scott Weinstein
  
  
• Integrity Constraints for XML
  Proceedings of the 19th ACM Symposium on Principles of Database Systems (PODS), 2000
  Wenfei Fan and Jérôme Siméon
  
  
• Interaction between Path and Type Constraints
  Proceedings of the 18th ACM Symposium on Principles of Database Systems (PODS), 1999
  Peter Buneman, Wenfei Fan, and Scott Weinstein
  
  
• Query Optimization for Semistructured Data using Path Constraints in a Deterministic Data Model [.ps]
  Proceedings of International Workshop on Database Programming Languages (DBPL), 1999 Another version in Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) 1949
  Peter Buneman, Wenfei Fan, and Scott Weinstein
  
  
• Specifying and Reasoning about Workflows with Path Constraints [.ps]  [.pdf]
  Proceedings of the 5th International Computer Science Conference (ICSC), 1999 and Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS 1749)
  Wenfei Fan and Scott Weinstein
  
  
• Path Constraints on Semistructured and Structured Data
  Proceedings of the 17th ACM Symposium on Principles of Database Systems (PODS), 1998
  Peter Buneman, Wenfei Fan, and Scott Weinstein