BaseX

Thanks to everyone who gave us great feedback on BaseX 6.6, either by e-mail or directly at the XMLPrague conference! BaseX 6.6.1 offers the following improvements on XQuery: index rewritings added for .../text()[. = ..] syntax; optimizations of mixed axis path expressions, e.g.: //x/name(); index rewritings on collections fixed and generalized; faster evaluation of filters with pos. predicates, e.g.: $x[5]; fixed relocation of let clauses in GFLWOR expressions; trace function returned wrong original results; variables in catch clauses were discarded; HOF optimizations and fixes

This release offers full support for Higher Order Functions, introduced with XQuery 3.0, native support for the EXPath ZIP and HTTP specifications and other new XQuery modules, a new COPY Command to clone existing databases, revised CSV and text importers for different encoding and XML formats, additional XQuery 3.0 features (decimal-format and context item declarations, format functions, etc.), and numerous speedups, and reduced memory consumption and stability fixes for XQuery and XQuery Update operations.

Text compression was implemented, shrinking text nodes by up to 50%. Collection support was enhanced. Backup functionality was added along with importers for HTML, text, and CSV. XQuery 3.0 features were added, including GROUP BY and SWITCH statements. New file, HTTP, database, and full-text functions were added. Lucene and Snowball Stemming were included for XQuery Full Text. The GUI received a new TreeView visualization and improved database management. JAX-RX now supports hierarchical paths and external variables. Language bindings were extended with query iterators.

A new REST API, based on the JAX-RX interface, to communicate with BaseX via HTTP. New bindings to use BaseX from other programming languages. Support for all XSLT/XQuery serialization parameters. Advanced query optimizations to apply index structures whenever appropriate. Enhanced conformance with XQuery Update/Full Text Recommendations.

A full implementation of XQuery Update, reaching 100% in the W3C Test Suite. An enhanced client/server architecture with ACID-safe transactions, user and password management, and transaction logging. Extended XQuery Full Text features, supporting TF/IDF scoring, stop word lists, fuzzy querying, etc. Improved creation of index structures, using constant memory. Optimizations to increase the use of index structures and iterative query processing.