Posted by Alex Bleasdale on
URL: https://discuss.orbeon.com/Replacing-the-embedded-eXist-with-a-MarkLogic-instance-tp1573436.html

Hi,

We're very interested in the possibility of swapping Orbeon's embedded eXist instance with a reference to a MarkLogic instance instead - so all XForms processing would take place using ML in place of eXist.

I've seen examples in the past for hooking up Orbeon with an external eXist datasource and the config looks something like this:

<datasource>
    <driver-class-name>org.exist.xmldb.DatabaseImpl</driver-class-name>
    <uri>xmldb:exist://localhost:9998/exist/xmlrpc</uri>
    <username>admin</username>
    <password>admin</password>
</datasource> 
   
However, this approach uses the xmldb API, which MarkLogic doesn't implement.  Writing an xmldb conformant "wrapper" driver seems like a somewhat daunting task; although I've heard that Orbeon could possibly use REST for this process instead - as is mentioned here:

http://orbeon.uservoice.com/forums/27-general/suggestions/251935-integrate-with-sedna-xml-database-as-an-alternativ

I've noticed that for FormRunner there is a project for an Oracle Persistence Layer; I've not really checked out the project but was wondering whether this uses REST rather than xmldb?

My question, then, would be whether anyone could offer us some advice regarding initial starting points, code examples etc and whether you think such a thing would be possible (or even worth attempting).

Thanks very much in advance,
A