2. The method of claim 1 , wherein, if a determination is made that the query includes the one or more operators, then performing at least the steps of: retrieving from the database server storage information associated with the first data of the XML datatype, wherein the storage information indicates a particular representation of the XML datatype; and based at least on the storage information, identifying the first one or more relational tables.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein, if a determination is made that the query includes the one or more operators, then performing at least the steps of: retrieving from the database server storage information associated with the first data of the XML datatype, wherein the storage information indicates a particular representation of the XML datatype; and based at least on the storage information, identifying the first one or more relational tables. 7. The method of claim 2 , wherein: the particular representation of the XML datatype indicates that the first data is stored by the database server as object-relational storage in one or more columns of second one or more relational tables; and the index information includes an XML table index for the first data, wherein the XML table index stores one or more elements of the first data, wherein the one or more elements are retrieved into the XML table index from the one or more columns of the second one or more relational tables.