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Re: RDFQ: RDF Query in RDF

From: Phil Dawes <pdawes@users.sf.net>
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 14:44:00 +0000
Message-ID: <16452.40368.694949.339797@gargle.gargle.HOWL>
To: <Patrick.Stickler@nokia.com>
Cc: <www-rdf-interest@w3.org>

Hi Patrick,

Is there any way to use the new 'select' stuff to do optional variable
binding?

e.g. bind variable 'a' to the subject nodes of all triples matching a
certain criteria, and bind variable 'b' to the rdfs:label of the
subject node if it exists.

Many thanks,

Phil


> From: <Patrick.Stickler@nokia.com>>  
>  
> Howdy folks,
>  
> As fodder for the coming discussions in Cannes regarding DAWG and
> related issues,  I wanted to draw attention to the latest specification =
> of RDFQ [1]
> an RDF vocabulary and query model for expressing queries and query =
> results
> in RDF.
>  
> RDFQ supports both query-by-example like templates, returning =
> descriptions
> of the matched resources, as well as SELECT like queries, returning =
> variable
> bindings using the Result Set Vocabulary [2].
>  
> E.g. Here is a query to identify all resources where their dct:modified =
> timestamp=20
> occurs between  the specified timestamps (match exclusive), which will =
> return
> the concise bounded description of each matched resource:=20
>  
> In minimal Turtle form (with RDFQ as default namespace and RDFS =
> closures):
>  
> [:target [dct:modified [:gt "2001-08-11T10:30:00Z"^^xsd:dateTime;  :lt =
> "2002-02-28T20:45:00Z"^^xsd:dateTime]]].
>  
> which in full Turtle equates to:
>  
> [a rdfq:Query;
>    rdfq:target
>       [a rdfq:Target;
>           dct:modified
>              [a rdfq:Value;
>                 rdfq:gt "2001-08-11T10:30:00Z"^^xsd:dateTime;
>                 rdfq:lt "2002-02-28T20:45:00Z"^^xsd:dateTime
>              ]
>       ]
> ].
>  
> which in RDF/XML equates to:
>  
> <rdfq:Query>
>    <rdfq:target>
>       <rdfq:Target>
>          <dct:modified>
>             <rdfq:Value>
>                <rdfq:gt =
> rdf:datatype=3D"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">2001-08-11T10:=
> 30:00Z</rdfq:gt>
>                <rdfq:lt =
> rdf:datatype=3D"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">2002-02-28T20:=
> 45:00Z</rdfq:lt>
>             </rdfq:Value>
>          </dct:modified>
>       </rdfq:Target>
>    </rdfq:target>
> </rdfq:Query>
>  
> Here is a query to identify all resources having a dc:title defined, =
> returning the variable=20
> bindings for 'target' and 'title' for each matched resource:=20
>  
> [:select ("target", "title"); :target [:id "target"; dc:title [:id =
> "title"]]].
>  
> or
>  
> [a rdfq:Query; rdfq:select ("target", "title");
>    rdfq:target [a rdfq:Target; rdfq:id "target"; dc:title [a rdfq:Value; =
> rdfq:id "title"]]].
>  
> or
>  
> <rdfq:Query>
>    <rdfq:select>
>       <rdf:List>
>          <rdf:first>target</rdf:first>
>          <rdf:rest>
>             <rdf:List>
>                <rdf:first>title</rdf:first>
>                <rdf:rest =
> rdf:resource=3D"http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#nil"/>
>             </rdf:List>
>          </rdf:rest>
>       </rdf:List>
>    </rdfq:select>
>    <rdfq:target>
>       <rdfq:Target>
>          <rdfq:id>
>             target
>          </rdfq:id>
>          <dc:title>
>             <rdfq:Value>
>                <rdfq:id>
>                   title
>                </rdfq:id>
>             </rdfq:Value>
>          </dc:title>
>       </rdfq:Target>
>    </rdfq:target>
> </rdfq:Query>
>  
> Which correlates to
>  
> SELECT ?target, ?title
> WHERE {dc:title, ?target, ?title};
>  
> The generic selection query to obtain all statements in a knowledge base
>  
> SELECT ?subject ?predicate ?object=20
> WHERE {?predicate, ?subject, ?object};
>  
> would be expressed in RDFQ as
>  
> [:select ("subject", "predicate", "object");
>  :target [:id "subject"; :property [:id "object"; :predicate [:id =
> "predicate"]]]].
>  
> (note that encoding the query in RDF requires the predicate variable
> to be defined in terms of the object for each property:value pair)
>  
> The RDFQ spec includes numerous additional examples.
>  
> One of the key benefits of RDFQ is that it is pure RDF. Both queries and =
> results
> are RDF, which means that only one parser is needed and one can employ =
> RDF
> tools and methods on the queries and results. Furthermore, auxiliary =
> information
> can be included in the request input, allowing e.g. the requesting agent =
> to provide
> vocabulary relations (e.g. rdfs:subPropertyOf, owl:sameAs) between =
> common and
> local terms so that  execution of the query can be optimized for that =
> agent without
> affecting the server's own knowledge base.
>  
> Using a keyboard-friendly serialization of RDF such as Turtle, where the =
> RDFQ
> namespace is default and RDFS closures for RDFQ terms are applied, =
> queries are=20
> as concise and easy to express as most SQUISH like queries, as the =
> examples
> should illustrate.
>  
> The open source release of the Nokia Semantic Web Server [3] has some =
> initial
> support for RDFQ, which should become complete in the very near future.
>  
> Anyway, just wanted to give a heads up about RDFQ in case folks find it =
> useful
> input to next week's discussions.
>  
> Regards,
>  
> Patrick
>  
> [1] http://sw.nokia.com/rdfq/RDFQ.html
> [2] http://www.w3.org/2003/03/rdfqr-tests/recording-query-results.html
> [3] http://sw.nokia.com/tools
>  
>  
> --
>  
> Patrick Stickler
> patrick.stickler@nokia.com
>  
>  
>  
-- 
Received on Tuesday, 2 March 2004 09:45:16 UTC

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