Package Exports

ldflex
ldflex/lib/index.js
ldflex/module/index.js

This package does not declare an exports field, so the exports above have been automatically detected and optimized by JSPM instead. If any package subpath is missing, it is recommended to post an issue to the original package (ldflex) to support the "exports" field. If that is not possible, create a JSPM override to customize the exports field for this package.

Readme

LDflex makes Linked Data in JavaScript fun

LDflex is a domain-specific language for querying Linked Data on the Web as if you were browsing a local JavaScript graph.

You can write things like person.friends.firstName to get a list of your friends. Thanks to the power of JSON-LD contexts and JavaScript's Proxy, these properties are not hard-coded in LDflex, but can be chosen at runtime. They feel as if you're traversing a local object, while you're actually querying the Web—without pulling in all data first.

Tim Berners-Lee came up with the idea for such a fluid JavaScript interface to Linked Data, in a discussion on how to make Linked Data easier for developers.

Articles and tutorials

Tutorial slides and walkthrough
Cheatsheet
Designing a Linked Data developer experience, discussing the design of LDflex
Solid Chess, an app built with LDflex

Installation

npm install ldflex

In order to execute queries, you will also need a query engine:

npm install @ldflex/comunica

Usage

When you have obtained a starting subject, you can navigate through its properties using standard JavaScript dot property syntax.

In order to query for the result, use await if you want a single value, or for await to iterate over all values.

Initialization

const { PathFactory } = require('ldflex');
const { default: ComunicaEngine } = require('@ldflex/comunica');
const { namedNode } = require('@rdfjs/data-model');

// The JSON-LD context for resolving properties
const context = {
  "@context": {
    "@vocab": "http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/",
    "friends": "knows",
    "label": "http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label",
    "rbn": "https://ruben.verborgh.org/profile/#"
  }
};
// The query engine and its source
const queryEngine = new ComunicaEngine('https://ruben.verborgh.org/profile/');
// The object that can create new paths
const path = new PathFactory({ context, queryEngine });

Looking up data on the Web

const ruben = path.create({ subject: namedNode('https://ruben.verborgh.org/profile/#me') });
showPerson(ruben);

async function showPerson(person) {
  console.log(`This person is ${await person.name}`);

  console.log(`${await person.givenName} is interested in:`);
  for await (const name of person.interest.label)
    console.log(`- ${name}`);

  console.log(`${await person.givenName} is friends with:`);
  for await (const name of person.friends.givenName)
    console.log(`- ${name}`);
}

Inspecting the generated path expression

(async person => {
  console.log(await person.friends.givenName.pathExpression);
})(ruben);

Getting all subjects of a document

(async document => {
  for await (const subject of document.subjects)
    console.log(`${subject}`);
})(ruben);

Getting all properties of a subject

(async subject => {
  for await (const property of subject.properties)
    console.log(`${property}`);
})(ruben);

Converting an LDflex expression into a SPARQL query

(async person => {
  console.log(await person.friends.givenName.sparql);
})(ruben);

Sorting path results

(async person => {
  for await (const uri of person.interest.sort('label'))
    console.log(`- ${uri}`);
})(ruben);

The sort function takes multiple arguments, creating a path that sorts on the last argument. The path can also continue after the sort: person.friends.sort('country', 'label').givenName will sort the friends based on the label of their country, and then return their names.

Modifying data

// Add a new value
await person['http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name'].add(literal(name));
await person['http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/nick'].add(literal(nickname));

// Set a new value and override existing values
await person['http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name'].set(literal(name));
await person['http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/nick'].set(literal(nickname));

// Delete object values
await person['http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name'].delete();
await person['http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/nick'].delete();

// Replace object values
await person['http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name'].replace(literal(oldName), literal(name));

Accessing collections

Handle rdf:List, rdf:Bag, rdf:Alt, rdf:Seq and rdf:Container.

For rdf:Lists

(async publication => {
  // Returns an Array of Authors
  const authors = await publication['bibo:authorList'].list();
})(ordonez_medellin_2014);

For rdf:Alt, rdf:Seq and rdf:Containers

(async data => {
  // Returns an Array of elements
  const elements = await data['ex:myContainer'].container();
})(data);

For rdf:Bags

(async data => {
  // Returns a Set of elements
  const elements = await data['ex:myBag'].containerAsSet();
})(data);

Alternatively, .collection can be used for any collection (i.e. rdf:List, rdf:Bag, rdf:Alt, rdf:Seq and rdf:Container) provided the collection has the correct rdf:type annotation in the data source

(async publication => {
  // Returns an Array of Authors
  const authors = await publication['bibo:authorList'].collection();
})(ordonez_medellin_2014);

NamedNode URI utilities

ruben.namespace // 'https://ruben.verborgh.org/profile/#'
ruben.fragment // 'me'
await ruben.prefix // 'rbn'

Additional Handlers

The following libraries provide handlers that extend the functionality of LDflex:

async-iteration-handlers Provides methods such as .map, .filter and .reduce for the async-iterable results returned by LDflex.

ldflex