Mark Logic Developer Network

Welcome to the Mark Logic Developer Network where MarkLogic Server developers can find and share solutions, participate in discussions, and help build a community around the technology. As a Mark Logic developer, whether new or experienced, you're already ahead of the curve. Let us know what we can do to help you put Mark Logic to work for you.

For more on what the developer network is about, see the welcome Letter From The Editor. You may also want to dive right in by reading our Informal Technical Overview that will introduce you to XQuery, MarkLogic Server and the site.

Tell us what you'd like to see here. Join the Discussions and let your voice be heard. Welcome to the community.

News from Mark Logic

Today we're announcing our biggest, boldest release ever - MarkLogic Server 4.0.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

MarkLogic Server 4.0 has been getting rave reviews from early access customers and from the customers and partners that attended the 2008 Mark Logic User conference, where we previewed some of the exciting new features. Now the new release is available for download.

MarkLogic Server 4.0 introduces new ways of searching, analyzing, and delivering content in context - geospatial services for location-aware search and analytics, and alerting to push relevant content to users. Content applications built on 4.0 let users easily navigate and understand their content through automatic identification of entities (people, places, dates, etc.), enhanced faceted navigation, and co-occurrence analysis. And with 4.0, it's much easier to re-use valuable content, and enforce standardization of content, thanks to the Modular Documents feature.

Keen on standards? In the new release, you can choose between standard XQuery 1.0, XQuery 1.0 with Mark Logic enhancements, and XQuery that is backwards-compatible with MarkLogic Server 3.2. And you can mix modules of different versions. Oh, and we've added support for XInclude and XPointer.

Enterprise administrators will love the extra control, automation, and high availability that come with 4.0's new features - such as a scriptable administration API, schedulable backups, and forest-level failover. And XQuery developers will want to check out a host of new toys, including function mapping, hash maps, and binary file uploads.

So whether you're an enterprise administrator, an XQuery developer, or a product planner, you'll want to check out this important new release of the world's greatest XML Server.

Achieving Agile Publishing - How XML is Changing the Face of Dynamic Content Delivery

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

As a publisher, you know user expectations are pushing content development to the limit. You need the ability to dynamically deliver content on demand, so users get precisely the content they want, the way they want it. Join this complimentary Webinar with Outsell Chief Research Fellow David Worlock and Simon & Schuster's Steve Kotrch. They will discuss ways you can engage your viewers fully and keep them coming back with a rich interface that allows them to easily analyze content, discover something, or add value to the content. Attend this event and learn how you can leverage an XML architecture to build out a publishing model that is agile enough for today's changing market.

Save the Date For The MarkLogic 2008 User Conference

June 10-13, 2008
InterContinental, San Francisco

Join us for an agenda packed with hands-on developer training, proven best practices, non-stop networking, breakthrough innovations, and all-star keynotes from industry leaders. Featuring keynote speaker Andrew P. McAfee, associate professor, Harvard Business School.

A Final "Word"

[Jan 22, 2008] In his final post on Office 2007 and MarkLogic Server, Pete Aven introduces us to the structured document tag, <w:sdt>, and how it can be used for content re-use as well as content creation with Word.

Enriching Word Documents with <w:customXml>

[Jan 15, 2008] In his fifth post, Pete Aven continues to dig into the Open XML formats for Office 2007. Today he examines the <w:customXml> tag and its application in Word so we can quickly add value to our Office 2007 documents using XQuery and MarkLogic Server.

More Lists in MarkMail!

[Dec 29, 2007] Ian reviews the big additions to the MarkMail archive: MySQL and css-discuss.

Running (a.k.a. <w:r>-ing) with Word

[Dec 18, 2007] In his 4th post, Pete Aven digs deeper into WordprocessingML, the OOXML format that Word uses. He explores the basic XML building blocks for a document, the XML that Word produces when you save a document, and some of the ways you can structure your XML for Word to consume. He reveals an issue with a certain element in document.xml, and examines a simple solution. Anyone interested in working with Word and the new Office 2007 OOXML file formats will find this week's post very helpful.

Getting OOXML into MarkLogic

[Dec 11, 2007] Pete Aven shows you how to use WebDAV and the Content Processing Framework to drag and drop OOXML into MarkLogic Server and automagically have it "exploded" for query. This is Part 3 of his series on MarkLogic Server and Microsoft Office 2007.

Excel-ing with XQuery

[Dec 4, 2007] In Part 2 of our OOXML series, Pete Aven introduces Excel 2007. He shows how we can create a simple spreadsheet, populating the cells with data from a web page, using XQuery and MarkLogic server.

XML Lists Now in MarkMail!

[Nov 29, 2007] MarkMail has loaded a set of XQuery- and XML-related mailing lists into the archive. Ian Small talks about the mailing lists, where you can find them, and riffs on the upcoming XML 2007 conference.

Office Logic

[Nov 27, 2007] As promised, Pete Aven starts his informative series on opportunities available with Microsoft Office 2007 OOXML, guesting in Ian Small's column. In his first article, Pete builds the foundation for future posts by introducing you to the construction of a Word document using XQuery and MarkLogic Server.

Getting Down and Dirty with OOXML

[Nov 21, 2007] Ian Small introduces Pete Aven, who will be blogging in Ian's Small Changes column for the next several weeks on the subjects of Microsoft Office 2007, XQuery and MarkLogic Server.

Coding with the MarkMail Masters

[Nov 14, 2007] Sign up now for this XQuery coding event at our offices in San Carlos on November 30. Ian Small provides some behind-the-scenes detail of what you can expect to learn in his blog.

Ian Small Discusses MarkMail

[Nov 12, 2007] Mark Logic formally announced MarkMail, a community-focussed searchable mail archive, today. MarkMail is a free service, available at http://markmail.org.

Ian Small blogs about the announcement, and the service itself.

Code with the XQuery Experts - Friday, November 30.

[Nov 05, 2007] Join two of XQuery's early hackers, and find out what they've learned about coding with XQuery over the past four years.

Jason Hunter of Java Servlet Programming fame and Ryan Grimm, O'Reilly Media's former XQuery guru, will be your Jedi masters for the day. You'll learn XQuery tips and tricks, plus see application examples. There will also be plenty of time for hands-on coding. PLUS: "Best XQuery App" contest.

Details, agenda and registration here.

Dancing With the 800 lb. Gorilla: Publishing in the Google Era

[Sep 12, 2007] Join us Thursday, September 27, to hear expert insight from information industry market research and analysis firm Outsell, Inc. and receive a complimentary copy of their latest report, Google as Publisher: Is Google Poised for a New Push into the Information Industry?

The media and blogosphere continue to buzz about new online players threatening the turf of traditional publishers. These include Amazon's CreateSpace service, which puts publishing directly into the author's hands. What can information providers do when Google and Amazon have agile technology infrastructures and scalability that they simply don't have yet?

Plenty, according to Outsell. Publishers still have the advantage when it comes to authoritative content and marketing authors. Additionally, new tools are making agile publishing processes easier to implement.

Don't miss this opportunity to hear recent findings and insight on the Googleplex and CreateSpace from Outsell's Chief Analyst Leigh Watson Healy, and Director and Lead Analyst Ned May.

MarkLogic Server 3.2 Released to Customers

[May 09, 2007] A few days ahead of our biggest user conference ever, we're unveiling the newest version of our rip-roaring XML content server, MarkLogic Server 3.2.

Now available for download, the 3.2 release lets you load more kinds of content than ever before, including more languages, more content encodings, and more content formats (including Microsoft Office 2007 and OpenOffice file formats). Once you've got your content in the contentbase, MarkLogic Server 3.2 brings all sorts of new power to the party, with extensions to search and query capabilities, as well as powerful new analytic features that can drive faceted navigation and zippy visual displays. Administrators also have something to look forward to, with new displays, controls, APIs and improvements to the user experience designed to make their day-to-day even simpler and easier. And developers have got it good as well, with new APIs for debugging and performance profiling included - meaning cool tools are on the way!

We hope that you'll take our newest creation out for a test spin, and will find lots of new things to like about it. If you want to learn more about MarkLogic Server 3.2, the best place to do it is at the tech track at our upcoming user conference, which starts next week on Tuesday, May 15. See you there!

You can learn more about the release and about the user conference by reading Ian Small's latest blog entry.

Registration Opens for Mark Logic 2007 User Conference

[Jan 26, 2007] Whether you're interested in the technology itself or learning about how folks are applying it, you won't want to miss the Mark Logic 2007 User Conference.

This year's event has been expanded to include two tracks: Technology and Applications. The first will be geared toward hands-on developers and will include our own engineering staff among the presenters. The second track is designed to showcase various applications that are being built on top of MarkLogic Server and will feature speakers from our customer and partner communities.

More detailed previews of the agenda will be published as they become available. Please register early as we anticipate a packed house this year!

Web Seminar: You Say You Want a Revolution? The Future for Content Applications

[Dec 01, 2006] Find out how the knowledge worker of the future will rely on content applications, plus learn about one content application that is saving researchers days of time.

Register now for this live web seminar on Wednesday, December 13. Melissa Webster, Program Director for IDC, will share findings and insights from a recent survey on how professionals expect to use content. Plus, Larry Tunks, Chief Information Officer of Congressional Quarterly, will discuss Legislative Impact, a content application built on MarkLogic Server.

XQRunner and JSP Projects Updated

[Oct 29, 2006] The XQRunner and JSP taglib projects have been updated in the Code Workshop. XQRunner now works with XCC as the underlying connector. The JSP tag library, which uses XQRunner, has also been updated to fix a few things and to make sure it works with the new XQRunner and XCC.

Web Seminar: Survival Secrets for the Post-Search World, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2 pm Eastern

[Sep 1, 2006] Learn how Forrester Research sees the new search landscape. Matt Brown, Senior Analyst, will describe how information providers are responding to a sophisticated market with value-added products and services. In the post-search world, consumers demand more flexibility in their selection and use of content so information providers are responding with highly-targeted, differentiated products. XML creates flexible new ways to repackage, deliver and monetize content, and ultimately extends to consumers who can search, retrieve, purchase and use content like never before.

View the archived webinar by clicking on this link .

MarkLogic Server 3.1-3 Maintenance Release

[Aug 31, 2006] The 3.1-3 Maintenance Release of MarkLogic Server is now available in the download section. This is a stability update that also includes the .NET version of the XCC package for server connectivity.

Performance of Constrained XML Lexicons

[July 12, 2006] With last week's column in hand, Ian digs into the performance implications of constraining XML lexicon lookups using the optional cts:query constructor parameter.

MarkLogic Server 3.1-2 Maintenance Release

[Jul 12, 2006] The 3.1-2 Maintenance Release of MarkLogic Server is now available in the download section. This is a stability update that also includes the .NET version of the XCC package for server connectivity.

If you're a Mark Logic commercial customer, login to the support site at http://support.marklogic.com/ for details on upgrading.

Performance Tuning Using Range Indexes

[July 5, 2006] This week's Small Changes column focuses on the detailed inner workings of term lists and range indexes, and how simple code changes can make some queries run much faster.

Ian Small Writes About Lexicons

[June 23, 2006] Ian has posted his second column, an introduction to XML lexicons, in the Reading area. If you didn't get to the User Conference, and haven't yet dug into the 3.1 Developer's Guide, this article will get you started.

MarkLogic Server 3.1 Makes Its Debut

[June 7, 2006] With a crash of cymbals and a fanfare of trumpets, MarkLogic Server 3.1 takes a bow and is now available for download. Those of you who were at this year's user conference will know all about the hot new features and performance enhancements it brings to the party.

If you didn't make it to the conference, you can peruse a high-level list of features on the release information page. And you can read Ian Small's column to see what 3.1 could mean for you.

But most importantly, you can get to work with our latest release by going to the download page right now!

Mark Logic 2006 User Conference A Big Hit!

Wow! Over 100 folks showed up to our May 2006 User Conference, held May 23-25, 2006 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Burlingame, California.

Conference attendees had a great opportunity to network and learn - both from each other and from Mark Logic's technical staff. Attendees enjoyed three days of in-depth discussions focusing on features of the upcoming MarkLogic Server 3.1 release, along with presentations from both customers and partners on their experiences to date. Visit the Conference Information page for full details of the agenda.

Thanks to all the attendees who made the week so enjoyable for all of us!

MLSQL: An XQuery Library for Relational Database Access

[April 4, 2006] Jason Hunter and Ryan Grimm have contributed an open source library called MLSQL that allows easy access to relational database systems from within the MarkLogic environment. MLSQL lets you execute arbitrary SQL commands against any relational database (MySQL, Oracle, DB2, etc) and capture the results as XML for processing by XQuery. Using the library enables XQuery applications to leverage a relational database without having to resort to Java or C# glue code to manage the interaction.

The MLSQL project consists of a couple hundred lines of XQuery and a few hundred lines of Java servlet code. The XQuery uses xdmp:http-post() to send the SQL query to the servlet, and the servlet uses JDBC to pass the query to the relational database. The code is distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

Read the MLSQL Tutorial to learn how it works. Then download it here: MLSQL distribution.

MarkLogic Server 3.0-6 Maintenance Release

[Mar 29, 2006] The 3.0-6 Maintenance Release of MarkLogic Server is now available in the download section. This is a stability update only. The XDBC package has also been updated.

If you're a Mark Logic commercial customer, login to the support site at http://support.marklogic.com/ for details on upgrading.

New Code Workshop Project: xqDoc-ws

[Oct 25, 2005] The good folks at xqDoc.org have contributed a new project to the Code Workshop. They've used triggers in MarkLogic Server to automatically generate xqDoc documentation for modules stored in the server. From their docs:

This project offers the ability to integrate the xqDoc web service on to your XQuery development workbench. We view this project as beneficial since it will help keep your XQuery code and xqDoc documentation synchronized. For example, imagine changing one of your XQuery modules and then have the xqDoc xml for that module automatically generated behind the scenes. This was the fundamental motivation for this project.

This project leverages the MarkLogic Trigger feature and introduces a general purpose core library module for accessing web services via SOAP. Since the current MarkLogic Trigger feature is "lightly" documented, this project (by offering numerous trigger examples) could help those developers attempting to leverage this new and powerful capability. Similarly, since the SOAP library module is very generic, it could be utilized as a starting point for accessing other web services (beyond xqDoc).

Find it here: xqDoc-ws distribution.

xqDoc Web Service Now Available

[Jul 25, 2005] Our friends at xqdoc.org have announced a new xqDoc web service to make it easier to generate documentation from xqDoc tags. Read the full announcement here.

Mark Logic at JavaOne

[Jun 27, 2005] Mark Logic's Jason Hunter and Ron Hitchens are speaking at JavaOne in San Francisco this week on the topic of XQuery For The Java Geek (TS-5163: 1:30pm on June 28).

Among other things, they will be discussing the Mark Logic JSP tag library and XQRunner, both available right here from our Code Workshop.

If you're not already on the Mark Logic developer mailing list, sign up here to stay informed and to participate in ongoing community discussions.

CQSH Command Line Tool Available

[Jun 22, 2005] A new open source code project, cqsh, has been opened in the Code Workshop. It's a Mark Logic command line shell that lets you list, load and examine documents in the server. You can also execute XQuery code inline.

The cqsh tool was the hit of the recent Mark Logic User Conference. Thanks to Andy Bruno of O'Reilly Media for contributing this very useful code.
cqsh distribution (README file)

MarkLogic Server 3.0 Hits The Street

[Jun 6, 2005] The feature-packed and highly anticipated Mark Logic 3.0 release has finally arrived. You can read more about it and download it right now from the download page.

This release comes on the eve of Mark Logic's second User Conference, kicking off tomorrow, June 7. We at Mark Logic are excited about this new release and the opportunity to show it off to our current and future customers at the conference.

If you're a Mark Logic commercial customer, visit the support site at http://support.marklogic.com/ for information on upgrading.

Content Interaction Server 2.2-7 Maintenance Release

[Apr 29, 2005] The 2.2-7 Maintenance Release of Content Interaction Server is now available in the download section. This is a minor stability update only. The XDBC package has also been updated.

If you're a Mark Logic commercial customer, login to the support site at http://support.marklogic.com/ for details on upgrading.

XQuery Adoption Survey Released

[Mar 29, 2005] Our friends at Stylus Studio (part of DataDirect) have published a new survey that looks at industry adoption of XQuery.

Among those surveyed: 52% are already using XQuery and 33% said they plan to use XQuery within the next year. [Full Details]

Content Interaction Server 2.2-6 Maintenance Release

[Feb 11, 2005] The 2.2-6 Maintenance Release of Content Interaction Server is now available in the download section. This is a minor stability update only. The XDBC package has also been updated.

If you're a Mark Logic commercial customer, login to the support site at http://support.marklogic.com/ for details on upgrading.

Interview with Dr. Daniela Florescu

[Jan 27, 2005] Our friends at Stylus Studio have posted an interesting interview with Daniela Florescu. Dr. Florescu is an XQuery pioneer and a leader in the W3C XQuery standardization effort.

Stylus Studio Plays Well With MarkLogic Server

[Jan 24, 2005] Mark Logic and Stylus Studio have teamed up to provide a very nice XQuery and XML development environment.

The recently released Stylus Studio 6 XML Professional Edition, Release 2 IDE tightly integrates with MarkLogic Server. This includes syntax highlighting, code completion of built-in and Mark Logic extension functions, execution of queries from within the IDE, error-reporting that highlights the offending source line, and more.

We've added a mini-tutorial here on the developer site. See also the Press Release announcing the Stylus Studio / Mark Logic partnership.

Mark Logic's own Jason Hunter was recently interviewed by Ivan Pedruzzi of Stylus Studio. Read it online here.

A 30 day free trial of Stylus Studio 6 is available for download now.

What's In A Name

[Jan 21, 2005] In the coming weeks you'll be seeing changes in terminology both here and on the Mark Logic coporate site.

As a part of Mark Logic's ongoing refinement of our product focus, we're renaming Content Interaction Server to MarkLogic Server. We will also begin referring to it as an "XML Content Server" or a "contentbase" to emphasize that MarkLogic Server is definitely not Yet Another Database.

Content Interaction Server 2.2-5 Maintenance Release

[Jan 14, 2005] The 2.2-5 Maintenance Release of Content Interaction Server is now available in the download section. This is a stability update only. The XDBC package has also been updated.

If you're a Mark Logic commercial customer, login to the support site at http://support.marklogic.com/ for details on upgrading.

Perl-XDBC Workshop Project Opened

[Nov 17, 2004] A new project has been started in the Code Workshop. It's a Perl module that implements XDBC connectivity. This project was contributed by one of our newest customers.
[Download, Source]

XQRunner and JSP Tag Library Projects Updated

[Nov 12, 2004] Significant updates have been made to the XQRunner (run XQuery from Java) and JSP Xquery Tag Library (run XQuery from JSPs) projects in the Code Workshop.

XQRunner now fully supports passing external variables, properly maps all the atomic types (including the various binary types) and supports document insertion. The library also supports full streaming of nodes and binary types.

The JSP tag library now directly uses the XQRunner library for communication. Variables can be passed with the new xq:variable tag.

User Conference Materials Online

[Nov 2, 2004] The presentation materials from the 2004 Mark Logic User Conference are now online in the conference archive. The slides are available in both PowerPoint and PDF formats.
[2004 Conference Archive]

Two New Workshop Projects Opened: xqlog and phpxdbc

[Oct 15, 2004] Two new projects have been added to the Code Workshop. The first is xqlog, a simple blogging system written entirely in XQuery. The second is phpxdbc which brings XDBC connectivity to PHP pages.

Both these projects are contributed by Raffaele Sena.
[xqlog>>] [phpxdbc>>]

First Mark Logic User Conference Was a Big Success

[Oct 14, 2004] The First Mark Logic User Conference, held October 11-13, was an unqualified success. We've received tremendous positive feedback from the attendees and everyone agrees that it far exceeded expectations.

Thank you very much to everyone who planned, presented and participated in this important event. We've already started thinking about the next one.

Keep an eye on the conference information page for further followup.

XQRunner Workshop Project Opened

[Oct 14, 2004] The XQRunner project has been activated in the Code Workshop. XQRunner is a Java library that facilitates execution of XQuery scripts, including passing external variables, with a cleanly abstracted API that isolates client code from the implementation details of XDBC.

Like all the code in the Code Workshop, XQRunner is open source and provided under the Apache 2.0 license. [Check It Out>>]

SOAP Router Workshop Project Opened

[Sep 29, 2004] A new project has been started in the Code Workshop. It's a framework, written in XQuery, that lets you write handlers for SOAP requests that run directly as XQuery functions inside Content Interaction Server.

This is the first Workshop project contributed by a member of the Mark Logic developer community from outside Mark Logic (thanks Darin). [Check It Out>>]

New and Improved jEdit Plugin Released

[Sep 24, 2004] A brand new, custom built Mark Logic jEdit plugin is now available in the Code Workshop. This new plugin replaces the one we previously had in the Workshop.

The new Mark Logic plugin is designed expressly to work with Content Interaction Server. It provides for one-key execution, highlights errors in the source and more. Additional features are planned in the future. Try it out and let us know what you thnk. [Check It Out>>]

CQ Updated for 2.2

[Sep 15, 2004] The CQ XQuery execution client has been updated. See the project description for a list of changes. [Check It Out>>]

User Login Project Added To Code Workshop

[Sep 15, 2004] A new Workshop project has been added. This project is example XQuery code that demonstrates how to handle user login and logout as well as self-registration.
[Check It Out>>]

ISO-8601 Dates Tutorial

[Sep 10, 2004]Tutorial This brief tutorial will help you better understand date formats and how they can interact between XQuery and Java.
[Read>>]

Integrating Content Interaction Server With Apache

[Sep 8, 2004]Tutorial In this informative new tutorial from guest author James Duncan Davidson you'll learn how to integrate Apache with Content Interaction Server so that you can leverage the strengths of both. SSL, PHP, single sign-on, JSP/Servlets, XQuery and much more all coexisting in one web site. [Learn More>>]

Mark Logic Training Courses

[Aug 30, 2004] We've added a new page that lists currently available Mark Logic training courses for Content Interaction Server. [Read>>]

Content Interaction Server 2.2 Preview

[Aug 23, 2004] Content Interaction Server Version 2.2 is due to release in a few weeks. We've convinced the Unknown Blogger to give us a sneak preview of the cool new features coming in 2.2. WebDAV, dictionaries, thesauri, BLOBs, stemming. Good stuff. [Check it out>>]

RSS Feed Now Available

We've activated our RSS feed. You can now use an RSS reader to stay current with new content that's posted here on the developer site. If you about RSS, the orange and blue button is your feed -- drag it into your reader. If you're not familiar with RSS, visit the RSS information page to learn more and to find an RSS reader.

Standards Issues

Mary Holstege gives an update on the current state of XQuery-related standards efforts. [Read>>]

Integrate With J2EE Using the Mark Logic JSP Tag Library

Tutorial This tutorial by Ron Hitchens, author of the JSP Tag Library and the Editor of developer site, shows you how to integrate Content Interaction Server into a J2EE application by invoking XQuery code directly from JSP pages. Ron shows you how the Mark Logic XQuery Tag Library can be combined with the standard JSTL XML tags to leverage the combined power of Java, XML and XQuery. [Read>>]