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How to compile the eXist 1.3 build

Submitted by administrator on Wed, 11/12/2008 - 17:48.

I have been learning how to use higher-order functions in XQuery. I am using the eXist system to test this.

To do this you will need to get the 1.3 build that there is no download for (yet).

Here are the steps I used:

  1. Download fresh copy of eXist from svn via TortoiseSVN or Eclipse subversion subclipse plugin from the eXist SVN sourceforge repository:
    https://exist.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/exist
  2. (Confirm environmental variables are set correctly for JAVA_HOME and EXIST_HOME) To do this I use the Windows/Computer/Properties/Advanced Settings and check it with the SET command at the CMD prompt. The result looks like this:
    JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_10

    My Eclipse workspace is just "C:\ws" and I created a project called eXist-1.3 so the path name I used for EXIST_HOME is:

    EXIST_HOME=C:\ws\eXist-1.3dev
  3. Open the DOS cmd prompt, cd to eXist directory
  4. type in "build.bat"
  5. Type in "build.bat -f build\scripts\jarsigner.xml"

It took just 1 minute and 6 seconds for the main build to run on my 4CPU system with 8GB of RAM even though it is running Vista.

Then I just ran the start.bat in the bin directory. eXist was then running on http://localhost:8080/exist. I had to use the new WebStart admin tool on the admin section of the eXist web page to change the admin password.

Thanks to Joe Wicentowski at the US Dept of State for helping out!

XRX: Simple, Elegant, Disruptive

Submitted by administrator on Tue, 05/27/2008 - 12:33.

I recently started writing for O’Reilly Media. I posted an article on XRX.

Here is the link:


http://www.oreillynet.com/xml/blog/2008/05/xrx_a_simple_elegant_disruptiv_1.html


We are just getting started moving to a new MoveableType (MT) system so not all of the features (like keywords and feedback) are working.


If you have problems commenting on the site, please feel free to post your comments here.


Here is a comment from Arun Batchu:


An elegant introduction to an elegant architecture, Dan. Thank you. The essential takeaway from what you describe is the exploitation of XML from one end to the other end - especially from the Developer's perspective, for, how XRX actually manifests in runtime could be left to implementation technologies. Thus the logical architecture of XRX could be realized by a few variations of concrete technology - which is great. The XForms could be realized by XForms server technology (such as the excellent Orbeon stack), the ReST could be realized by any middle tier and the XQuery could be realized by an XQuery engine (such as Data Direct) that may actually be driving any one or a combination of datastores (XML, SQL, file system or ...) . The symmetrical and consistent leverage of XML as a data model from creation to transport to rest and back eliminates a whole lot of wasteful work. Like you point out, XPath is one of the most powerful query systems I have encountered; you can pack so much in so little and reuse it across the board with little if any change from the drawing board to production. In such a system as you describe, a business rule expressed once can be reused anywhere - from one end-to-end , however long the travel, as long as the architecture is XRX, like you have described. Thanks for expressing it so well. A few of your readers will not get it - it is one of those things that once you experience it, you are left wondering why this did not happen before. Oh, well!




You are welcome! Thank for your feedback Arun!

And the Winner is: eXist-db.org My Award for the Most Innovative Product of 2007

Submitted by administrator on Tue, 12/18/2007 - 01:28.

As the year starts to come to a close we often take some time to look back at the year and look at the innovations that we have seen that have changed our worldview. I can think of many things that have had a large impact on me: The FireFox XForms extension, discovering the beauty of a well-designed REST interface, the mule enterprise service bus, Yahoo pipes and microformats all come to mind.

But after careful consideration I have to hand my award out to the most innovative application of the year to me to the eXist database/web server. This application constantly amazes me with what I can do with it. If you have a Java JVM on your desktop it only take a few minutes to get it running. Hit the startup script and you have a web server running on localhost:8080. Open a WebDAV browser and drag-and-drop you files and folders and away you go. With eXist I can easily setup a full enterprise metadata registry on a laptop in under five minutes.

The power of eXist comes from its use of the XQuery engine. Any well-formed XML file that is added to the system gets instantly indexed and can instantly be searched. That means that 10ms after you hit the "Save" on your XForms you can see the data appear in XQuery reports.

But the "Secret Sauce" of eXist rests in it's use of a lightweight Jetty web server with a remarkably integrated REST and WebDAV interface. This means that every XML file…is a static web service. This means that every XQuery that returns XML…is a dynamic web service that you can parameterize. This means that you can be writing your first web services in fifteen minutes that can be grabbing data from a dozen different XML files and quickly serializing the results out the wire. Enterprise mash-ups at your fingertips. Very little programming is done other then selecting data. Just like it should be.

eXist technologies are going to start to have a big impact once XForms/REST and XQuery (XRX) web development matures. I predict this is going to happen in the next three years. An although IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and many others are supporting XQuery in a big way, they don't yet have the really smooth integration with next-generation XForms-driven clients. You still need teams of AJAX, JavaScript, Java, .Net and SQL programmers to build simple web services for rich client interfaces.

I must admit it took me a little while to really understand how the simplicity of the interface really rocked my world. Just swap out the world "rest" in the URL and replace it with the word "webdav" and you go from a data browser to a file system that works with every copy/cut and paste operation of the file system.

It is also interesting to note that this product did not come out of a Bay Areas startup, it didn't come out of Google Labs, it didn't come from Microsoft or IBM. From what I can tell the initial version was pretty much written by a single guy in Germany, Wolfgang Meier. It think this shows that there is still room for true innovation by a single individual in this world. Although eXist now appears to have a great team of people behind it, it shows that a single person with a clear architectural can put the right pieces together really can make a difference in the world. Our teams could not have been as productive with XForms if we didn't have a clean and elegant tool like eXist behind our forms. I know that XRX innovators will no be able to stand on Wolfgang's shoulders and build incredible applications.

Thanks Wolfgang! Your labor of love is growing up!