XQuery as alternative to JSP/Java for web services?

Question

I noticed that DataLogic (or is it MarkLogic?) and SqlServer 2005 both support xquery for RDBMS access and (seem to; haven't tried this myself yet) offer xquery inside JSP/ASP. That leads me to wonder whether java code could disappear from the presentation layer. I.e. JSP/ASP would only contain html plus xquery code that accesses the DBMS directly, without the usual model and controller layers. The app I have in mind doesn't need/use a business rules layer so I've not worried about that.

Has anyone tried this? (BTW I know xquery needs java to work; I'm more thinking of reducing the number of languages programmers need to learn to get a web app on the air).

Answer 1

Another approach is to use an XML Server which stores XML data and use XQuery to access and deliver the result on the server side (I work at Mark Logic, we make an XML Server, try it here: http://developer.marklogic.com/download/)

In this architecture you have a single server storing XML and executing XQuery. If you deliver the result formatted as HTML you now have a two tier system. Of course you can use AJAX to access the XML Server vis ReST directly from within the page.

An advanced form of this architecture is called XRX. See this post for more info: http://www.oreillynet.com/xml/blog/2008/05/xrx_a_simple_elegant_disruptiv_1.html