Database Server
This step by step tutorial shows you how to run BaseX in client-server mode from a terminal. You can copy & paste the commands to get it running on your machine. After you finished this tutorial, you will be familiar with the basic administration of BaseX. Visit the commands section for a complete list of database commands.
Startup
First of all, please launch a Server and Client instance of BaseX: double click on the BaseX Server/Client icons, or run the basexserver
and basexclient
scripts. Follow this link for more information (or check out the additional command-line options).
Create a database
- To create a database you need an XML document, e.g. factbook.xml.
- Save this document to the directory your working in.
- On the client terminal, run:
- > CREATE DB factbook factbook.xml
- factbook - is the name of the database
- factbook.xml - is the xml file, which is used to create the database
If everything works you see the following lines:
Database 'factbook' created in 1950.83 ms.
- Where is the database stored?
Databases are stored in the BaseXData directory which is located in your home folder.
Depending on your operating system the location of your home folder varies. For example, on a mac it's /Users/John
, if your name is John.
If you have used the Windows installer, the database directory will reside in the application directory.
Execute a query
The xquery command lets you run a query.
- For example, this query returns all country nodes in the currently opened database.
- > XQUERY //country
- You can also run queries in files:
- > RUN /Users/John/query.xq
Create a new database
Now we will create another database. You can find the example document here: [1].
- Create the new database, named 'xmark'.
- > CREATE DB xmark xmark.xml
- Set the new database xmark as the context:
- > OPEN xmark
- Now you can easily execute queries on your new database:
- > XQUERY //people/person/name
Switch the database
- You can explicitly query the factbook database with the doc()-funtion, no matter what the current context is.
- > XQUERY doc("factbook")//country
- Otherwise, to set factbook as the current context, execute the following:
- > OPEN factbook
- To list the current context, type:
- > SHOW DATABASES
That yields the following lines:
1 opened database(s): - factbook (1x)
Close or delete a database
- To close the current context database type:
- > CLOSE
- Use the drop command to delete the xmark database:
- > DROP DBxmark
Create a collection
What is a collection? With BaseX you can group documents into one logical collection. A collection is a database that contains two or more documents. Collections accept any type of XML documents, regardless of their structure.
Let's add the xmark.xml document to the factbook database to create a collection. The name of the original factbook database remains.
- First make sure factbook is opened:
- > OPEN factbook
- Now add the xmark.xml document:
- > ADD xmark.xml
Delete a document
- Deleting a document from a collection is very easy:
- > DELETE xmark.xml
Make sure the collection which contains the xmark.xml document is opened.
Delete a collection
Deleting a collection is the same as deleting a database.
- To delete the collection factbook, type:
- > DROP factbook
Get server information
Several commands help to explore the state of a server. For a complete list, please visit the Commands Section.
- To see all databases on the server, type:
- > LIST
- To see which database is currently opened:
- > SHOW DATABASES
- To see the general information of the opened database, type:
- > INFO
- To see the users in BaseX, type:
- > SHOW USERS
Backup and restore
To backup your database, type:
> BACKUP factbook
To restore your database, type:
> RESTORE factbook
Where is the backup-file stored?
The backup-file is stored in the database directory.
The file is named factbook-timestamp.zip
(db_name-timestamp.zip
).
To restore the database the file with the newest timestamp is taken.