eXist data store configuration

The XBRLAPI supports version 1.4 of the eXist XML database. It no longer supports earlier versions of eXist.

This page is relevant to those looking to use the XBRLAPI with the eXist data store either stand-alone or as an embedded database. It provides terse suggestions on the steps required to get the eXist database running in a manner that will permit interaction from the XBRLAPI.

For full details see the eXist homepage.

You will need to download or otherwise have the xbrlapi-exist-X.X.jar module on the class path to use the stand-alone eXist data store.

You will need to download or otherwise have the xbrlapi-exist-embedded-X.X.jar module on the class path to use the stand-alone eXist data store.

Setting eXist up within the default Jetty Container as a stand-alone database

Install your Java SDK

Download the most recent eXist installer JAR file and follow the instructions on the eXist download page for doing the installation.

If you do not want to run the eXist web application on the default port, modify the [exist installation]/tools/jetty/etc/jetty.xml file to use your preferred port. This is useful to avoid conflicts with other web application containers and web servers.

Check that the Exist database is running by entering the URL http://localhost:8089/exist/, presuming that you have chosen to 8089 as your port. You should see a local homepage for eXist if you have installed successfully. Check that you can log in as an administrator using the "admin" userid and the password you chose for the database during the installation process. The password used for unit testing the XBRLAPI is "password". Change this in the unit test configuration if you are using a different password.

Browsing the database collections as the administrator will fail if the file permissions for the database files are set wrongly in the web application. Check the installation instructions for eXist for more details on trouble shooting such problems. These files are to be found in the webapp/WEB_INF/data directory of the eXist installation.

Once eXist is installed in the Java servlet container, you should be able to run all of the unit tests in the unit testing suite provided by org.xbrlapi.data.exist.tests.AllTests. If you run into problems make sure that the eXist test configuration parameters reflect your own eXist installation.

Setting eXist up as an embedded database

Use xbrlapi-exist-embedded-X.X.jar

Make sure you have a copy of the eXist configuration file conf.xml in a directory that you have specified using the exist.home system property.

Run the application using the embedded exist database specifying -Dexist.home as a JRE parameter.