Associating information related to components in structured documents stored in their native format in a database

1. A method for associating information related to a component in a structured document that is stored in its native format in a database system comprising:

a) generating a hierarchical node tree comprising a plurality of nodes, wherein each node represents a component in the structured document and wherein each node comprises a header section and a child pointer section wherein the child pointer section comprises at least three formats for a child pointer wherein a first format applies when the child pointer points to an ordered attribute in a different node, a second format applies when the child pointer points to an ordered attribute in an in-lined character array and a third format applies when the child pointer fully describes an associated child and a value thereof;

b) for each node, generating a path associated with the node, wherein the path follows the hierarchical structure of the structured document from a root node to the node;

c) storing in each node an identifier associated with the path for the node; and

d) providing a table that correlates the identifier with information related to the associated path, wherein the information applies to the component represented by the node.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein generating the hierarchical node tree comprises:

a1) parsing the structured document into the plurality of nodes; and

a2) linking each of the nodes via pointers to form the hierarchical node tree.

3. A method according to claim 1 further comprising:

e) storing each node in at least one record in the database, wherein each record comprises a plurality of node slots and each node slot includes a pointer pointing to a node.

4. A method according to claim 1 wherein a node has at least one child node and comprises at least one child pointer that points to each of the child nodes.

5. A method according to claim 1 further comprising:

e) storing the identifier in the table.

6. A method according to claim 5 further comprising:

f) storing the path in the table; and

g) correlating the identifier with the path associated with the node.

7. A method according to claim 1 further comprising:

e) for each path, providing access control information based on an access control policy for the structured document;

f) storing the access control information in the table; and

g) correlating the identifier for the node with the access control information associated with the path.

8. A method according to claim 7 wherein the access control information associated with the path is an executable statement indicating who is granted or denied access to the node.

9. A method according to claim 1 further comprising:

e) for each path, determining schema information associated with the path;

f) storing a reference to the schema information in the table; and

g) correlating the identifier associated with the path with the reference to the schema information associated with the path.

10. A method according to claim 1 further comprising:

e) for each path, collecting statistical information associated with the path;

f) storing the statistical information in the table; and

g) correlating the identifier for the path with the statistical information associated with the path.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the header section comprises at least a node type, a name of the node, a namespace of the node, a node slot number and the path identifier.