Question

How do I control the order of selection from a for $x in (...) ? In the last line of XQuery below, I want the result to be in the order $retmax, $retmin, but it comes out in reverse order.

<result>
{
    let $max := max(doc("countries.xml")//country/(@population div @area))
    let $min := min(doc("countries.xml")//country/(@population div @area))
    for $country in doc("countries.xml")//country
    let $density := $country/(@population div @area)
    let $ret_min := if ($density = $min)
                    then <lowest density="{$density}">{data($country/@name)}</lowest>
                    else ()
    let $ret_max := if ($density = $max) 
                    then <highest density="{$density}">{data($country/@name)}</highest>
                    else ()
    for $r in ($ret_max, $ret_min) return $r
}   
</result>

produces:

  <result>
    <lowest density="0.026752619966905682">Greenland</lowest>
    <highest density="31052.3125">Macau</highest>
  </result>

but I want:

  <result>
    <highest density="31052.3125">Macau</highest>
    <lowest density="0.026752619966905682">Greenland</lowest>
  </result>

Answer 1

Here’s how I’d write it…

let $ordered_countries := for $country in doc("countries.xml")//country
                          let $density := $country/(@population div @area)
                          order by $density 
                          return $country
let $low  := $ordered_countries[1]
let $high := $ordered_countries[fn:last()]
return (
    <lowest density="{$low/(@population div @area)}">{data($low/@name)}</lowest>,
    <highest density="{$high/(@population div @area)}">{data($high/@name)}</highest>
)