Seminář: Evolution and Adaptability of Complex XML Applications

XML is widely exploited format for data exchange and persistence. Usually, a single information system exploits a set of XML schemas describing the structure of various types of XML documents being processed. The schemas usually overlap, meaning that they describe the same part of reality differently. We denote such an XML application as complex. An important task for the designer is to design the XML schemas correctly as well as to adapt them continuously as user requirements change. And the change propagation may not only affect the data structures, but also related operations, storage strategies etc. Consequently, doing this manually may be very difficult and error-prone due to the fact that a single change may impact many parts of the system differently. In this talk we describe a five-level evolution framework we have proposed and continuously improved in our research group in recent years. It enables one to solve to the indicated issues more easily, efficiently and enabling the user to avoid errors. Since the described task is not simple, we will describe both the already solved problems and possible future enhancements and extensions.