[Exist-open] Understanding URL Rewriting in eXist 1.4 - a demo / helper app

[Joe W. <jo...@gm...>]

Hello all,

One of the many powerful features of eXist 1.4 is URL Rewriting.  I've
attached a simple XQuery app, called URL Rewriting Helper v.1, which
I'm hoping will help others in trying to understand the new URL
Rewriting features of eXist 1.4.  (See
http://exist-db.org/urlrewrite.html for the main docs.)

The tool helps you dissect URLs and see them the way eXist sees them.
It shows the $exist:* variables and the key URL-related info from the
request module.  It also lets you try out "faux" directories and URL
parameters in order to see what happens.  Ultimately, it helps you
create highly portable XQuery apps, by avoiding the route of
hard-coding paths.

You can also easily use this to diagnose issues with other controllers
- just paste the dispatch element from the controller.xql file into
your own.

The .zip file contains a folder ("url-rewriting-helper"), which
contains two files ("controller.xql" and "url-rewriting-helper.xql").
You can place the folder either in your webapp directory, or in your
db (I'd suggest /db/www/) -- anywhere that is part of a "controller
hierarchy" as explained in the main docs.  Then call, for example:
localhost:8080/url-rewriting-helper/ or
localhost:8080/tools/url-rewriting-helper/.

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

Thanks,
Joe