Knowledgebase:
Server-side JavaScript and JSON vs XQuery and XML in MarkLogic Server
09 February 2015 03:24 PM

Introduction

This article discusses the capabilities of JavaScript and XQuery, and the use of JSON and XML, in MarkLogic Server, and when to use one vs the other.

Details

Can I do everything in JavaScript that I can do in XQuery? And vice-versa?

Yes, eventually. Server-side JavaScript builds upon the same C++ foundation that the XQuery runtime uses. MarkLogic 8.0-1 provides bindings for just about every one of the hundreds of built-ins. In addition, it provides wrappers to allow JavaScript developers to work with JSON instead of XML for options parameters and return values. In the very few places where XQuery functionality is not available in JavaScript you can always drop into XQuery with xdmp.xqueryEval(...).

When should I use XQuery vs JavaScript? XML vs JSON? When shouldn’t I use one or the other?

This decision will likely depend on skills and aspirations of your development team more than the actual capabilities of XML vs JSON or XQuery vs JavaScript. You should also consider the type of data that you’re managing. If you receive the data in XML, it might be more straightforward to keep the data in its original format, even if you’re accessing it from JavaScript.

JSON

JSON is best for representing data structures and object serialization. It maps closely to the data structures in many programming languages. If your application communicates directly with a modern browser app, it’s likely that you’ll need to consume and produce JSON.

XML

XML is ideal for mark-up and human text. XML provides built-in semantics for declaring human language (xml:lang) that MarkLogic uses to provide language-specific indexing. XML also supports mixed content (e.g., text with intermingled mark-up), allowing you to "embed" structures into the flow of text.

Triples

Triples are best for representing atomic facts and relationships. MarkLogic indexes triples embedded in either XML or JSON documents, for example to capture metadata within a document.

JavaScript

JavaScript is the most natural language to work with JSON data. However, MarkLogic’s JavaScript environment also provides tools for working with XML. NodeBuilder provides a pure JavaScript interface for constructing XML nodes.

XQuery

XQuery can also work with JSON. MarkLogic 8 extends the XQuery and XPath Data Model (XDM) with new JSON node tests: object-node(), array-node(), number-node(), boolean-node(), and null-node(). One implication of this is that you can use XPath on JSON nodes just like you would with XML. XML nodes also implement a DOM interface for traversal and read-only access.

Summary

If you’re working with data that is already XML or you need to model rich text and mark-up, an XML-centric workflow is the best choice. If you’re working with JSON, for example, coming from the browser, or you need to model typed data structures, JSON is probably your best choice.

 

 

(9 vote(s))
Helpful
Not helpful

Comments (0)