11. A system for configuring a multi-path index, the system comprising: a processor-based database management system, which when executed on a computer system will cause the processor to: store a structured document in its native format; receive a multi-path index definition associated with a data model corresponding to the structured document and to store the multi-path index definition in a data structure, the multi-path index definition including a first sub-path definition that covers a first plurality of descendant elements of a root element of the data model and a second sub-path definition that covers a second plurality of descendant elements of the root element of the data model, the multi-path index definition further including at least two index properties; and a multi-path index in the database management system configured to store indexed data from a structured document conforming to the data model, wherein the indexing engine is configured to automatically index each of a plurality of descendant elements covered by the sub-path definitions according to the at least two index properties that specify types of searches to be performed for the content of each of the descendant elements covered by the sub-path definitions, and to store the indexed data in the multi-path index, and wherein the at least two index properties are selected from a set of index properties including at least a full-text search, a value comparison, an element type definition, an enumerate repeating elements, and a start end marker.
11. A system for configuring a multi-path index, the system comprising: a processor-based database management system, which when executed on a computer system will cause the processor to: store a structured document in its native format; receive a multi-path index definition associated with a data model corresponding to the structured document and to store the multi-path index definition in a data structure, the multi-path index definition including a first sub-path definition that covers a first plurality of descendant elements of a root element of the data model and a second sub-path definition that covers a second plurality of descendant elements of the root element of the data model, the multi-path index definition further including at least two index properties; and a multi-path index in the database management system configured to store indexed data from a structured document conforming to the data model, wherein the indexing engine is configured to automatically index each of a plurality of descendant elements covered by the sub-path definitions according to the at least two index properties that specify types of searches to be performed for the content of each of the descendant elements covered by the sub-path definitions, and to store the indexed data in the multi-path index, and wherein the at least two index properties are selected from a set of index properties including at least a full-text search, a value comparison, an element type definition, an enumerate repeating elements, and a start end marker. 13. The system of claim 11 wherein the sub-path definitions comprises a modified path expression configured to match a plurality of path expressions corresponding to the plurality of covered descendant elements.