XQuery/eXist Crib sheet

= Imports and Declarations =

XQuery declaration
xquery version "1.0";

import a module
import module namespace geo="http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/exist/coord" at "coord.xqm";

Base eXist namespace
declare namespace exist = "http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist";

Standard eXist modules
Optional in an XQuery script but required in a module in 1.2 but not in 1.3

import module namespace xmldb = "http://exist-db.org/xquery/xmldb"; import module namespace util = "http://exist-db.org/xquery/util"; import module namespace request = "http://exist-db.org/xquery/request"; import module namespace response = "http://exist-db.org/xquery/response"; import module namespace session = "http://exist-db.org/xquery/session"; import module namespace transform = "http://exist-db.org/xquery/transform"; import module namespace text = "http://exist-db.org/xquery/text"; import module namespace system = "http://exist-db.org/xquery/system";

declare a namespace
declare namespace tx="http://www.transxchange.org.uk/";

declare a default element namespace
declare default element namespace "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml";

Be VERY careful if you use a default namespace. This means that everything that does not have a namespace prefix will automatically be serialized into this namespace. It also PREVENTS you from using the null namespace unless you specifically declare it as xmlns="". Note that you do NOT associate a prefix with the default namespace.

declare a default function namespace
declare default function namespace "http://www.transxchange.org.uk/";

declare a java binding namespace
declare namespace math="java:java.lang.Math";

Note that the java binding is disabled by default due to security issues. Math functions can now be invoked via the maths extension module.

= Serialization Options =

output XML document
This is the default, but can be declared explictly: declare option exist:serialize "method=xml media-type=text/xml omit-xml-declaration=no indent=yes";

output SVG document
declare option exist:serialize "method=svg media-type=application/svg+xml omit-xml-declaration=no indent=yes";

output XHTML document
declare option exist:serialize "method=xhtml media-type=text/html omit-xml-declaration=no indent=yes        doctype-public=-//W3C//DTD&amp;#160;XHTML&amp;#160;1.0&amp;#160;Transitional//EN        doctype-system=http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd";

If your code contains a lot of XML fragments that are in the NULL namespace (xmlns="") then there is a method of automatically converting everything in the null namespace to automatically get put into the XHTML namespace. declare option exist:serialize "method=xhtml enforce-xhtml=yes";

output HTML4 document
declare option exist:serialize "method=xhtml media-type=text/html omit-xml-declaration=no indent=yes        doctype-public=-//W3C//DTD&amp;#160;HTML&amp;#160;4.01&amp;#160;Transitional//EN        doctype-system=http://www.w3.org/TR/loose.dtd";

output HTML5 document
declare option exist:serialize "method=html5 media-type=text/html omit-xml-declaration=yes indent=yes";

output HTML document with no doctype
declare option exist:serialize "method=html media-type=text/html omit-xml-declaration=yes indent=yes";

output XHTML document with no doctype
declare option exist:serialize "method=xhtml media-type=text/html omit-xml-declaration=yes indent=yes";

output plain text document with no doctype
declare option exist:serialize "method=text media-type=text/plain omit-xml-declaration=yes";

output kml document
declare option exist:serialize "method=xhtml media-type=application/vnd.google-earth.kml+xml highlight-matches=none";

output XForms document
declare option exist:serialize "method=xhtml media-type=text/xml indent=yes";

= Modules and Functions =

module header
module namespace c="http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/exist/coord";

function declaration
declare function local:times($tt, $dt) { if (exists($dt)) then local:times(($tt, $tt[last]+ $dt[1]), remove($dt,1)) else $tt };
 * in the default namespace in an XQuery script


 * in the namespace of a module

module namespace time = 'http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/fold/time'; declare function time:times($tt, $dt) { if (exists($dt)) then time:times(($tt, $tt[last]+ $dt[1]), remove($dt,1)) else $tt };

declare variable
declare variable $pi as xs:double := 3.14159265;

in a module with namespace prefix fxx:

declare variable $fxx:file := doc('/db/me/file.xml');

embedded CSS stylesheet
 <![CDATA[ .good {background-color: green;} .bad {background-color:red;} ]]>

Get HTTP POST URL Parameters
To get two URL parameters from an HTTP POST http://localhost:8080/exist/rest/db/my-collection/my-xquery.xq?color=blue&shape=circle Add the following: let $my-color := request:get-parameter('color', 'red') let $my-shape := request:get-parameter('shape', '' )

If no color parameter is supplied a default color of "red" will be used.

Get HTTP POST Data
To get all the XML data from an HTTP POST let $my-data := request:get-data

Extend the Output Size Limit
By default the output size in 10,000 bytes. You can extend this by adding the following

For example to triple the size limit of the output use the following line: