Hi Ben,
Unfortunately, the insert above just returns an empty set. I *think* it puts it into some PUL list, not unlike a set of transactions to be applied. These modifications seem to be invisible to subsequent queries, even in the same session (unlike a SQL database wherein the same session would see the modifications).
Well summarized; this is the way how the XQuery Update Facility works. As you have created the updated node inside the updating query, and as updating queries return no results, you won’t have any insight into the changes.
There are basically two solutions (depending on what you want to do):
1. In SQL, you usually update existing resources. If you want to do the same in XQuery, you need to address the resource in your quer, e.g. via fn:doc or db:open:
insert node element german { 'Friede' } into doc('world.xml')/peace
2. If you want to create new nodes in your query and update and return those, you can use the “non-updating” expression:
<peace/> update { insert node element german { 'Friede' } into . }
Separately, if I do haver an insert or some other modification, what's the syntax if I wanted to add a for, let order by or other FLOWR keyword?
XQuery is “fully composable”, which means that FLWOR expressions can be used nearly anywhere. Just an example:
let $node := <peace/> return $node update { for $new in (<german>Friede</german>, <french>paix</french>) order by name($new) return insert node $new into . }
Hope this helps Christian