[ic] XML, MySQL, XML-DBMS, xml-generator

[BF]

Wishlist: Plainly written tutorial about using IC with XML for
beginners.

I have read/scanned the xml-generator usertag documentation and
searched the archives about everything I could find about where
IC stands with regards to using xml document files. 

>From what I understand I can generate xml marked pages with
the xml-generator from data in any products database, be it with 
data out of internal gdbm or MySQL database tables.  

I have read/scanned the following article (much beyond my head):

  http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2000/12/13/perlxmldb.html
  http://www.rpbourret.com/xml/XMLAndDatabases.htm#doccentric

and I read

  http://developer.akopia.com/archive/interchange-users/2000/msg05932.html

I need a bit more beginner's direction. Let's say I have a gdbm products
database table with tab delimited ascii data, some MySQL tables, and a lot
of  XML formatted document files, which I want to store in a database as a
whole. I assume I could store them in a column as BLOB in a MySQL database
table. I assume I could not store them in a field of a flat ascii file
using IC's internal gdbm tables.

If these were books or articles, containing code, mathematical and
chemical formulas, the site I like to build would be able to index on
author, title, ISBN, categories etc., but also within each book/article
on let's say tags or functions or chemical names and/or formulas.

I don't understand if I could then index on the data contained in the
xml marked files sitting in the MySQL table as a blob. And I don't
understand which search I would use for text strings within the
xml document file sitting in my MySQL database as a BLOB. (I
haven't used MySQL yet, sorry for that question, but the book I 
consulted didn't talk about that possibility).  

Or would I have to extract data from the xml document files and structure
the fields of the MySQL database tables according the xml structure and
store just the data contained within the xml file in the MySQL database ?

On the other hand I would like to be able to extract just the data from
an xml document file (which other people upload), store them in a database
an redeliver them to the web in a differrently styled and marked xml file. 
Can I still do that with MySQL and IC or would I need to understand how
xml-dbms works ? Could xml-dbms work with IC ?    

Would I still use glimpse searches on the BLOB field and binary 
searches if I had many, many records (sku would refer most probably
to the titles of paragraphs or chapters).

Basically I would like to start filling my products database tables and
one of the fields should hold my own xml document files as a whole, and
others data extracted out from other xml documents. All files delivered
from the database tables back to the web again should be xml  
formatted in the same way I wrote up my own. Can I do that with IC, which
database types should I use and can I index in the above mentioned way,
could I still use static pages in the end ? What searches would be the
fastest ?

Sorry, if these questions show plainly all of my ignorance. Though I
am I just need a roadmap (telling me what NOT to read/study would already
be helpful) for people who just start out to learn xml and use IC with
MySQL for the first time. 

Mike Heins always told me in 1996, I should start at the bottom with
building a very small database and then build up step by step. Before I
really give it another shot in earnest four years later, I like to try to
avoid the mistakes I made the first time, definitely not writing html
documents in large numbers. So, no more than 20 books with 2 chapters, 10
pages each as a test database. I like to start writing the first pages
in xml. But I like to have a roadmap for beginners, before I decide if
I really will do what I intend to do. 

Thank you kindly for any advice you might have.

-- 
Birgitt Funk