7. The method of claim 6 in which the path identifier corresponds to a key to a path entry containing a full path for the node.
7. The method of claim 6 in which the path identifier corresponds to a key to a path entry containing a full path for the node. 8. The method of claim 7 in which the path entry resides in a first table structure and the path string, hierarchical information, and node data reside in a second table structure.