1. Programmer's Guide
  2. Oracle XML Developer's Kit for C
  3. Determining XML Differences Using C

8 Determining XML Differences Using C

An explanation is given of how to determine the differences between two Extensible Markup Language (XML) inputs and apply the differences as a patch to one of the XML documents.

Overview of XMLDiff in C

You can use Oracle XmlDiff to determine the differences between two similar XML documents. It generates an Xdiff instance document that indicates the differences. The Xdiff document is an XML document that conforms to an XML schema, the Xdiff schema.

You can then use XmlPatch, which takes the Xdiff instance document and applies the changes to other documents. You can use this process to apply the same changes to a large number of XML documents.

XmlDiff supports only the Document Object Model (DOM) application programming interface (API) for input and output.

XmlPatch also supports the DOM for the input and patch documents.

You can use XmlDiff and XmlPatch through a C API or a command-line tool. They are exposed by two structured query language (SQL) functions.

An XmlHash C API is provided to compute the hash value of an XML tree or subtree. If hash values of two trees or subtrees are equal, the trees are identical to a very high probability.

Process Flow for XMLDiff

The XMLDiff process flow is described.

  1. The two input documents are compared by XmlDiff.

  2. XmlDiff creates a Xdiff instance document.

  3. The application can pass the Xdiff instance document to XmlPatch, if this is required.

  4. XmlPatch can apply the differences captured from the comparison to other documents as specified by the application.

Using XmlDiff

XmlDiff compares the trees that represent two input documents, to determine their differences. Both input documents must use the same character-set encoding. The Xdiff (output) instance document has the same encoding as the data encoding (DOM encoding) of the input documents.

User Options for Comparison Optimization

There are two optimization options for comparison: global and local optimization.

  • Global Optimization—Default

    The whole document trees are compared.

  • Local Optimization

    Comparison is at the sibling level. Local optimization compares siblings under the corresponding parents from two trees.

Global optimization can take more time and space for large documents but always produces the smallest set of differences (the optimal difference). Local optimization is much faster, but may not produce the optimal difference.

User Option for Hashing

Hashing generally speeds up global optimization with a small possible loss in quality. Hashing improves the quality of the difference output, with local optimization. Using different hash levels may generate both local and global differences. You can specify the use of hashing for both local and global optimization.

To specify hashing, provide the hashLevel parameter. If hashLevel is greater than 1, then only the DOMHash values are used for comparing all subtrees at depth >= hashLevel of difference. If the hash values are equal, then the subtrees are presumed to be equal.

How XmlDiff Looks at Input Documents

How XmlDiff handles input documents is described.

XmlDiff ignores differences in the order of attributes while doing the comparison.

XmlDiff ignores DocType declarations. Files are not validated against the document type definition (DTD).

XmlDiff ignores any differences in the namespace prefixes if the namespace prefixes refer to the same namespace Universal Resource Identifier (URI). Otherwise, if two nodes have the same local name and content but differ in namespace URI, these differences are indicated.

Note:

XmlDiff operates on its input documents in a nonschema-based way. It does not operate on elements or attributes in a type-aware manner.

Using the XmlDiff Command-Line Utility

The command-line options for utility XmlDiff are described.

Table 8-1 XmlDiff Command-Line Options for the C Language

Option Description

-e encoding

Specify default input-file encoding. If no encoding is specified in XML file, this encoding is assumed for input.

-E encoding

Specify output/data encoding. DOMs and the Xdiff instance document are created in this encoding. Default is 8-bit encoding of Unicode (UTF-8).

-h hashLevel

Specify the hash level. 0 means none.

If greater than 1, starting depth to use hashing for subtrees.

-g

Set global optimization (default).

-l

Set local optimization.

-p

Show this usage help.

-u

Disable update operation.

Sample Input Document

A sample input XML document is presented.

Example 8-1 is a sample XML document that you can use to explain updates resulting from using both XmlDiff and XmlPatch. It is followed by some hypothetical changes.

Assume that there is another file, book2.xml, that looks just like Example 8-1 except that it causes these actions:

  • Deletes "The Eleventh Commandment", a delete-node operation.

  • Changes the country code for the "C++ Primer" to US from USA, an update-node operation.

  • Adds a description to "Emperor's New Mind", an append-node operation.

  • Adds the edition to "Evening News", an insert-node-before operation.

  • Updates the price of "Evening News", an update-node operation.

Example 8-1 book1.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<booklist xmlns="http://booklist.oracle.com">
  <book>    
    <title>Twelve Red Herrings</title>
    <author>Jeffrey Archer</author>
    <publisher>Harper Collins</publisher>
    <price>7.99</price>      
  </book>
  <book>
    <title language="English">The Eleventh Commandment</title>
    <author>Jeffrey Archer</author>
    <publisher>McGraw Hill</publisher>   
    <price>3.99</price>
  </book>
  <book>
    <title language="English" country="USA">C++ Primer</title>
    <author>Lippmann</author>
    <publisher>Harper Collins</publisher>   
    <price>4.99</price>
  </book>          
  <book>
    <title>Emperor's New Mind</title>
    <author>Roger Penrose</author>
    <publisher>Oxford Publishing Company</publisher>
    <price>15.9</price>
  </book>          
  <book>
    <title>Evening News</title>
    <author>Arthur Hailey</author>
    <publisher>MacMillan Publishers</publisher>
    <price>9.99</price>
  </book>  
</booklist>

Sample Xdiff Instance Document

A sample Xdiff instance document is presented.

This section shows the Xdiff instance document produced by the comparison of these two XML files described in the previous section. The sections that follow explain the XML processing instructions and the operations on this document.

You can invoke XmlDiff: 

> xmldiff book1.xml book2.xml

You can also examine the sample application for arguments and flags.

Example 8-2 Sample Xdiff Instance Document

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xd:xdiff xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.oracle.com/xdb/xdiff.xsd
xmlns:xd="http://xmlns.oracle.com/xdb/xdiff.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
xmlns:oraxdfns_0="http://booklist.oracle.com">
    <?oracle-xmldiff operations-in-docorder="true" output-model="snapshot" 
        diff-algorithm="global"?> 
    <xd:delete-node xd:node-type="element" xd:xpath="/oraxdfns_0
              :booklist[1]/oraxdfns_0:book[2]"/>
    <xd:update-node xd:node-type="attribute" 
         xd:parent-xpath="/oraxdfns_0:booklist[1]/oraxdfns_0:book[3]/oraxdfns_0
              :title[1]" xd:attr-local="country">
                <xd:content>US</xd:content>
    </xd:update-node>
    <xd:append-node xd:node-type="element" xd:parent-xpath="/oraxdfns_0
              :booklist[1]/oraxdfns_0:book[4]">
        <xd:content>
            <oraxdfns_0:description> This is a classic </oraxdfns_0:description>
        </xd:content>
    </xd:append-node>
    <xd:insert-node-before xd:node-type="element" xd:xpath="/oraxdfns_0
              :booklist[1]/oraxdfns_0:book[5]/oraxdfns_0:author[1]">
        <xd:content>
            <oraxdfns_0:edition>Hardcover</oraxdfns_0:edition>
        </xd:content>
    </xd:insert-node-before>
    <xd:update-node xd:node-type="text" xd:xpath="/oraxdfns_0
           :booklist[1]/oraxdfns_0:book[5]/oraxdfns_0:price[1]/text()[1]">
        <xd:content>12.99</xd:content>
    </xd:update-node>
</xd:xdiff>

Output Model and XML Processing Instructions

The Xdiff instance document uses some XML processing instructions (shown in bold in the previous section) that are used to represent certain aspects of the differencing process.

See Xdiff Schema. These instructions and related options are:

  • operations-in-docorder: Options are true or false:

    • true—The Xdiff instance document refers to the nodes from the first document in the same order as in the document.

    • false—The Xdiff instance document does not refer to the nodes from the first document in the same order as in the document.

    The output of global optimization meets the operations-in-docorder requirement, but local optimization does not.

  • output-model: Options are:

    • snapshot—Xmldiff generates output in snapshot model and follows the UNIX diff model. Each operation uses XPath as if no operations have been applied to the input document. This is the default. XmlPatch can handle this model only if operations-in-docorder is set to true and the XPaths are simple. Simple XPaths require a child axis, no wild cards, and must use positional predicates, such as /root[1]/child[2]/text()[2].

    • current—Each operation uses XPath as if all operations up to the previous one have been applied to the input document. Even though XmlDiff does not generate differences in the current model, XmlPatch can handle a hand-crafted diff document in the current model

  • diff-algorithm: Options indicate which optimization generated the differences.

    • Global optimization

    • Local optimization

Related Topics

Xdiff Operations

XmlDiff captures differences using operations indicated by the Xdiff instance document. The XmlDiff operations are described.

Table 8-2 Xdiff Operation Attributes

Attribute Description

parent-path or xpath

Specifies the XPATH location of the parent node of the operand node or the XPATH location of node.

node-type

Specifies the type of the operand node.

content

Child element that specifies the new subtree or value appended or inserted.

The Xdiff operations, presented in the Xdiff instance document, are:

  • append-node:

    The append-node element specifies that a node of the given type is added as the last child of the given parent.

  • insert-node-before:

    The insert-node-before element specifies that a node of the given type is inserted before the given reference node.

  • delete-node:

    The delete-node element specifies that the node be deleted along with all its children. You can use this element to delete elements, comments, and so on.

  • update-node:

    update-node specifies that the value associated with the node with the given XPath expression is updated to the new value, which is specified. Content is the value for a text node. The value of an attribute is the value for an attribute node.

    • Update for Text Nodes:

      • Generation of update node operations can be turned off by the user.

      • The value of an attribute is the value for an attribute node.

      • update-node is generated for text nodes only by global optimization.

    • Update for Elements:

      • XmlDiff does not generate update operations for element nodes.

        You can either manually modify the Xdiff instance document to create an update operation that works with XmlPatch, or provide a totally hand-written Xdiff instance document. All children of the element operated on by the update are deleted. Any new subtree specified under the content node is imported.

Format of Xdiff Instance Document

The output of XmlDiff, the Xdiff instance document, is an XML document that conforms to the Xdiff XML schema. The output document contains a sequence of operations describing the differences between the two input documents. If you apply the differences to the first document, you obtain the second document.

Xdiff Schema

An Xdiff XML schema, to which an Xdiff instance document (output) adheres, is presented.

Example 8-3 Xdiff Schema: xdiff.xsd

<schema targetNamespace="http://xmlns.oracle.com/xdb/xdiff.xsd" 
    xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
    xmlns:xd="http://xmlns.oracle.com/xdb/xdiff.xsd" 
    version="1.0" elementFormDefault="qualified"
    attributeFormDefault="qualified"> 
    <annotation> 
        <documentation xml:lang="en"> 
         Defines the structure of XML documents that capture the difference 
         between two XML documents. Changes that are not supported by Oracle 
         XmlDiff may not be expressible in this schema. 
           
       'oracle-xmldiff' PI in Xdiff document:
 
       We use 'oracle-xmldiff' PI to describe certain aspects of the diff.
       The PI denotes values for 'operations-in-docorder' and 'output-model'.
       The output of XmlDiff has the PI always. If the user hand-codes a diff doc
       then it must also have the PI in it as the first child of top level xdiff
       element, to be able to call XmlPatch.
 
       operations-in-docorder: 
       Can be either 'true' or 'false'.
       If true, the operations in the diff document refer to the
       elements of the input doc in the same order as document order. Output of
       global algorithm meets this requirement while local does not.
       
       output-model:
       output models for representing the diff. Can be either 'Snapshot' or 
       'Current'.
 
       Snapshot model:
       Each operation uses Xpaths as if no operations
       have been applied to the input document. (like UNIX diff)
       This is the model used in the output of XmlDiff. XmlPatch works with 
       this (and the current model too).
       For XmlPatch to handle this model, "operations-in-docorder" must be 
       true and the Xpaths must be simple. (see XmlDif C API documentation).
 
       Current model:
       Each operation uses Xpaths as if all operations till the previous one
       have been applied to the input document. Works with XmlPatch even if 
       the 'operations-in-docorder' criterion is not met and the xpaths are 
       not simple.
       <!-- Example:
            <?oracle-xmldiff operations-in-docorder="true" output-model=
            "snapshot" diff-algorithm="global"?>
        -->
      </documentation> 
    </annotation> 
    <!-- Enumerate the supported node types --> 
    <simpleType name="xdiff-nodetype"> 
        <restriction base="string"> 
            <enumeration value="element"/> 
            <enumeration value="attribute"/> 
            <enumeration value="text"/> 
            <enumeration value="cdata"/> 
            <enumeration value="entity-reference"/>
            <enumeration value="entity"/>
            <enumeration value="processing-instruction"/>
            <enumeration value="notation"/>
            <enumeration value="comment"/>            
         </restriction> 
    </simpleType>
 
    <element name="xdiff"> 
        <complexType> 
            <choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"> 
                <element name="append-node"> 
                    <complexType> 
                        <sequence> 
                            <element name="content" type="anyType"/> 
                        </sequence> 
                        <attribute name="node-type" type="xd:xdiff-nodetype"/> 
                        <attribute name="xpath" type="string"/> 
                        <attribute name="parent-xpath" type="string"/> 
                        <attribute name="attr-local" type="string"/>
                        <attribute name="attr-nsuri" type="string"/>
                    </complexType> 
                </element>
 
                <element name="insert-node-before"> 
                    <complexType> 
                        <sequence> 
                            <element name="content" type="anyType"/> 
                        </sequence> 
                        <attribute name="xpath" type="string"/> 
                        <attribute name="node-type" type="xd:xdiff-nodetype"/>
 
                    </complexType> 
                </element>
 
                <element name="delete-node"> 
                    <complexType> 
                        <attribute name="node-type" type="xd:xdiff-nodetype"/>
                        <attribute name="xpath" type="string"/> 
                        <attribute name="parent-xpath" type="string"/> 
                        <attribute name="attr-local" type="string"/>
                        <attribute name="attr-nsuri" type="string"/>
                    </complexType> 
                </element>
                 <element name="update-node"> 
                    <complexType> 
                        <sequence> 
                            <element name="content" type="anyType"/> 
                        </sequence> 
                        <attribute name="node-type" type="xd:xdiff-nodetype"/> 
                        <attribute name="parent-xpath" type="string"/> 
                        <attribute name="xpath" type="string"/> 
                        <attribute name="attr-local" type="string"/>
                        <attribute name="attr-nsuri" type="string"/>
                    </complexType> 
                </element>
                <element name="rename-node"> 
                    <complexType> 
                        <sequence> 
                            <element name="content" type="anyType"/> 
                        </sequence> 
                        <attribute name="xpath" type="string"/> 
                        <attribute name="node-type" type="xd:xdiff-nodetype"/> 
                    </complexType> 
                </element>
            </choice> 
         <attribute name="xdiff-version" type="string"/> 
        </complexType> 
    </element> 
</schema>

Using XMLDiff in an Application

In an application, XmlDiff takes the source types and locations of the input documents as arguments. The source type can be a URL, file, orastream and stream context pointers, buffer, and buffer_length pointers or the pointer to a DOM document element (docelement).

XmlDiff returns the document node for the DOM for the Xdiff instance document.

XmlDiff builds the DOM for the two documents, if they are not already provided as DOM, before performing a comparison.

See Also:

Oracle Database XML C API Reference for the C API for the flags that control the behavior of XmlDiff

Example 8-4 XMLDiff Application

# include <xmldf.h>
...
xmlctx     *xctx;
xmldocnode *doc1, *doc2, *doc3;
uword       hash_level;
oratext    *s, *inp1 = "book1.xml", *inp2="book2.xml";
xmlerr      err;
ub4         flags;

flags = 0; /* defaults : global algorithm */
hash_level = 0; /* no hashing */
/* create XML meta context */
if (!(xctx = XmlCreate(&err, (oratext *) "XmlDiff", NULL)))
{
   printf("Failed to create XML context, error %u\n",
(unsigned) err);
err_exit("Exiting");
}
/* Load the two input files */
if (!(doc1 = XmlLoadDom(xctx, &err, "file", inp1, "discard_whitespace", TRUE,
 NULL)))
{
   printf("Parsing first file failed, error %u\n", (unsigned)err);
   err_exit((oratext *)"Exiting.");
}
if (!(doc2 = XmlLoadDom(xctx, &err, "file", inp2, "discard_whitespace", TRUE,
    NULL)))
{
   printf("Parsing second file failed, error %u\n", (unsigned)err);
   err_exit((oratext *)"Exiting.");
}
 
/* run XmlDiff on the DOM trees. */
 
doc3 = XmlDiff(xctx, &err, flags, XMLDF_SRCT_DOM, doc1, NULL, XMLDF_SRCT_DOM,
               doc2, NULL,hash_level, NULL);
 
if(!doc3)
   printf("XmlDiff Failed, error %u\n", (unsigned)err);
else
{
if(err != XMLERR_OK)
printf("XmlDiff returned error %u\n", (unsigned)err);
/* Now we have the DOM tree in doc3 which represent the Diff */
...
}
 
XmlFreeDocument(xctx, doc1);
XmlFreeDocument(xctx, doc2);
XmlFreeDocument(xctx, doc3);
XmlDestroy(xctx);

Customized Output

A customized output builder stores differences in any format suitable to the application. You can create your own customized output builder, rather than using the default Xdiff instance document, which is generated by XmlDiff and that conforms to the Xdiff schema.

To create a customized output builder, you must provide a callback that can be called after XmlDiff determines the differences. The differences are passed to the callback as an array of xmdlfop. The callback may be called multiple times as the differences are being generated.

Using a customized output builder may perform better than using the default, because it does not have to maintain the internal state necessary for XPath generation.

By default, XmlDiff captures the differences in XML conforming to the Xdiff schema. If necessary, plug in your own output builder. The differences are represented as an array xmldfop. You must write an output builder callback function. The function signature is: 

xmlerr(*xdfobcb)(void *uctx, xmldfop *escript, ub4 escript_siz);

uctx is the user specific context.

escript is the array of size escript_siz: 

diff[escript_siz]

mctx is the memory context.

Supply this memory context through properties to XmlDiff(). Use this memory context to allocate escript. You must later free escript.

Invoke the output builder callback after the differences have been found which happens even before the invocation of XmlDiff() returns. The output builder callback can be called multiple times.

Example 8-5 Customized XMLDiff Output

 /* Sample useage:  */
 ...
 #include <orastruc.h> / * for 'oraprop' * /
 ...
 static oraprop diff_props[] = {
    ORAPROP(XMLDF_PROPN_CUSTOM_OB, XMLDF_PROPI_CUSTOM_OB, POINTER),
    ORAPROP(XMLDF_PROPN_CUSTOM_OBMCX, XMLDF_PROPI_CUSTOM_OBMCX, POINTER),
    ORAPROP(XMLDF_PROPN_CUSTOM_OBUCX, XMLDF_PROPI_CUSTOM_OBUCX, POINTER),
        { NULL }
  }; 
  ...
  oramemctx *mymemctx;
  ...
  xmlerr myob(void *uctx,  xmldfop *escript, ub4 escript_siz)
  {
     /* process diff which is available in escript * /
     
     /* free escript - the caller has to do this * /
     OraMemFree(mymemctx, escript);
  }
 
  main()
  {
   ...
      myctxt  *myctx;
 
      diff_props[0].value_oraprop.p_oraprop_v = myob;
      diff_props[1].value_oraprop.p_oraprop_v = mymemctx;
      diff_props[2].value_oraprop.p_oraprop_v = myctx;
      XmlDiff(xctx, &err, 0, doc1, NULL, 0, doc2, NULL, 0, diff_props);
 ...

Using XmlPatch

XmlPatch takes an Xdiff instance document, generated by XmlDiff or created by another mechanism, and follows the instructions in the Xdiff instance document to modify other XML documents.

Using the XmlPatch Command-Line Utility

Command-line options for utility XmlPatch are described.

Table 8-3 XmlPatch for C Command-Line Options

Option Description

-e encoding

Specify default input-file encoding. If no encoding is specified in XML file, this encoding is assumed for input.

-E encoding

Specify output/data encoding. DOMs and patched document are created in this encoding. Default is UTF-8.

-i

Interpret file names as URLs.

-h

Show this usage help.

Using XmlPatch in an Application

XmlPatch takes the source types and locations of the input document and the diff document as arguments. The source type can be a URL, file, orastream and stream context pointers, buffer and buffer_length pointers, or the pointer to a DOM document element (docelement).

See Also:

Oracle Database XML C API Reference for the C API for the flags that control the behavior of XmlPatch

The modes that were set by the Xdiff schema affect how XmlPatch works.

If the output-model is Snapshot, XmlPatch only works if operations-in-docorder is TRUE.

If the output-model is Current, it is not necessary that operations-in-docorder be set to TRUE.

Example 8-6 Sample Application for XmlPatch

...
#include <xmldf.h>
...
xmlctx     *xctx;
xmldocnode *doc1, *doc2;
oratext    *s;
oratext    *inp1 = "book1.xml"; /* input document */
oratext    *inp2 = "diff.xml", /* diff document */
xmlerr      err;
 
/* create XML meta context */
if (!(xctx = XmlCreate(&err, (oratext *) "XmlPatch", NULL)))
{
   printf("Failed to create XML context, error %u\n",
(unsigned) err);
err_exit("Exiting");
}
/* Load the two input files */
if (!(doc1 = XmlLoadDom(xctx, &err, "file", inp1, "discard_whitespace", TRUE,
    NULL)))
{
   printf("Parsing first file failed, error %u\n", (unsigned)err);
   err_exit((oratext *)"Exiting.");
}
if (!(doc2 = XmlLoadDom(xctx, &err, "file", inp2, "discard_whitespace", TRUE,
    NULL)))
{
   printf("Parsing second file failed, error %u\n", (unsigned)err);
   err_exit((oratext *)"Exiting.");
}
 
/* call XmlPatch */
if(!XmlPatch(xctx, &err, 0, XMLDF_SRCT_DOM, doc1, NULL, XMLDF_SRCT_DOM,
           doc2, NULL, NULL));
 
   printf("XmlPatch Failed, error %u\n", (unsigned)err);
else
{
if(err != XMLERR_OK)
printf("XmlPatch returned error %u\n", (unsigned)err);
/* Now we have the patched document in doc1 */
...
}
 
XmlFreeDocument(xctx, doc1);
XmlFreeDocument(xctx, doc2);
XmlDestroy(xctx);

Using XmlHash

XmlHash computes a hash value for an XML tree. If the hash values of two trees are equal, it is probable that they are the same XML. You can use XmlHash to do a quick comparison to see if an XML tree is already in the database.

You can run XmlDiff again, if necessary, on any matches, to be absolutely certain there is a match. You can compute the hash value of the new document and query the database for it.

Example 8-7 shows a sample program that uses XmlHash.

Example 8-7 XmlHash Program

sword main(sword argc, char *argv[])
{
   xmlctx     *xctx;
   xmldfsrct   srct;
   oratext    *data_encoding, *input_encoding, *s, *inp1;
   ub1         flags;
   xmlerr      err;
   ub4         num_args;
   xmlhasht    digest;
   flags = 0; /* defaults */
   srct = XMLDF_SRCT_FILE;
   inp1 = "somexml.xml";
   xctx = XmlCreate(&err, (oratext *) "XmlHash", NULL);
 
   if (!xctx)
   {
      /* handle error with creating xml context and exit */
      ...
   }
 
   /* run XmlHash */
   err = XmlHash(xctx, &digest, 0, srct, inp1, NULL, NULL);
   if(err)
      printf("XmlHash returned error:%d \n", err);
   else
      txdfha_pd(digest);
 
   XmlDestroy(xctx);
 
   return (sword )err;
}
 
/* print bytes in xml hash */
static void txdfha_pd(xmlhasht digest)
{
   ub4  i;
 
   for(i = 0; i < digest.l_xmlhasht; i++)
      printf("%x ", digest.d_xmlhasht[i]);
 
   printf("\n");
}

Invoking XmlDiff and XmlPatch

XmlDiff and XmlPatch can be called as command-line tools and from the C language. They are also available as SQL functions.

See Also: