Functional dependencies and its axiom system in XML

Abstract

According to the analysis of existing complicated functional dependencies constraint, we conclude the conditions of defining functional dependency in XML, and then we introduce the concept of the node value equality. A new path language and a new definition of functional dependencies in XML (XFD) are proposed. XFD includes the relative XFD and the absolute XFD, in which absolute key and relative key are the particular cases. We focus on the logical implication and the closure problems, and propose a group of inference rules. Finally, some proofs of the correctness and completeness are given. XFD is powerful on expressing functional dependencies in XML causing data redundancy, and has a complete axiom system.