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 BaseX commands.
Contents
Startup
see the Startup Overview.
Starting the Server
- Navigate to the location of basex.jar (
> cd /basex
). - You can either start the server in interaction mode if you add the -i flag. This allows you to further interact with the server during runtime (add databases or users, ...).
- > java -cp BaseX.jar org.basex.BaseXServer -i
- Or the server can be started alternatively without the -i flag. Note, that you have to restart the server to execute further commands from this shell.
- > java -cp BaseX.jar org.basex.BaseXServer
- A default admin user is created (you can change the password with the PASSWORD command):
- Username: admin
- Password: admin
- Once the server has successfully started you see the following lines:
BaseXServer [Server] Server was started.
Starting the Client
- Open a new terminal window, make sure you are in the right directory (/basex).
- Execute the following to start the client:
- > java -cp BaseX.jar org.basex.BaseXClient
- If you haven't changed the password with the server, you can login as default user (admin/admin).
First Operations
To get familiar with BaseX we suggest to execute the following basic operations.
Creating a database
- To create a database you need an XML document, e.g. factbook.xml.
- Save this document to the /basex directory.
- 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.
Executing 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
Creating 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
Switching 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)
Closing or deleting a database
- To close the current context database type:
- > close
- Use the drop command to delete the xmark database:
- > drop db xmark
Creating 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 from a collection
Deleting a document from a collection is very easy, just type:
> delete xmark.xml
N.B. The collection has to be the context i.e. the database which contains the document has to be opened.
Delete a collection
Deleting a collection is the same as deleting a database. If you want to delete the collection factbook, type:
> drop factbook
Getting information about the server
To see all databases on the server, type:
> list
To see which database is currently opened, type:
> 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 BaseXData directory, which is in your home directory. The file is named factbook-timestamp.zip (db_name-timestamp.zip). To restore the database the file with the newest timestamp is taken.
See also
BaseX Standalone, BaseX GUI, Getting Started Guide, Advanced User Portal