Re: [Exist-builds] eXist REST

[Wolfgang M. <wol...@ex...>]

Hi,

> eXist offers REST, XML-RPC and SOAP as possible HTTP layer. Which of
> them is the most used within eXist and it's HTTP users? Are RESTful WS
> becoming a competitive to SOAP WS?

We are more and more switching to REST. The XMLDB Java API does still
use XMLRPC, but the new XQuery API for Java will use REST in the
background.

> Since last year, October 2008, a JSR-311 Java specification - JAX-RS -
> occurred.  JAX-RS specifies the way RESTful WS have to be in Java. Did
> you considered this specification or it's reference implementation
> Jersey for eXist?

Mmmmh, JSR-311 mainly addresses the server side, where I mostly don't
use Java (for application logic). eXist provides a standard REST API
for the major tasks, which can be easily extended by using XQuery
scripts stored into the db. You can map those scripts to any url using
XQueryURLRewrite and thus create RESTful apps without writing a line
of Java.

I have some ideas for future developments, e.g. to allow users to
deploy an XQuery module whose functions are automatically transformed
into service endpoints. Request parameters would be transparently
mapped into function arguments and a WADL description is generated to
be used by the client.

Anyway, if you have any ideas/suggestions, I'm happy to learn new things.

Wolfgang