DB2 pureXML provides hierarchical storage for XML data and advanced XML query capabilities such as SQL/XML and XQuery. SQL/XML is a standardized extension of the SQL language so that XQuery or XPath can be embedded in SQL. This allows for integrated processing of XML and relational data, or conversion from one to the other. One of the most versatile functions in SQL/XML is XMLTABLE. In part 1 of this series, <A HREF="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0708nicola/index.html?ca=drs-">learn to use XMLTABLE to retrieve XML data</A> in relational format. Discover how to manage repeating or missing XML elements, and how to handle namespaces in the XMLTABLE function. Part 2 describes common XMLTABLE usage scenarios such as XML shredding, splitting large documents into smaller ones, and relational views over XML data.