/*
(Q8) How many items were actioned (auction ended) in March 1999? 
*/

LET $item := document("items.xml")//item_tuple
       [end_date .>=. '1999-03-01' AND end_date .<=. '1999-03-31']
RETURN
   <item_count>
      NUMFORMAT("###", count($item) )
   </item_count>