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https://github.com/simplerdf/simplerdf

:ok_hand: The future simplest RDF library ever
https://github.com/simplerdf/simplerdf

Last synced: 3 months ago
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:ok_hand: The future simplest RDF library ever

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# SimpleRDF [![](https://img.shields.io/badge/chat-gitter-FC424C.svg?style=flat-square)](https://gitter.im/simplerdf/simplerdf) [![](https://img.shields.io/badge/project-SimpleRDF-FC424C.svg?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/simplerdf)






> The future simplest RDF library ever



--



- [Install](https://github.com/simplerdf/simplerdf#install)

- [Quick tutorial](https://github.com/simplerdf/simplerdf#quick-tutorial)

- [Limitations](https://github.com/simplerdf/simplerdf#limitations)

- [Faq](https://github.com/simplerdf/simplerdf#faq)

- [Roadmap](https://github.com/simplerdf/simplerdf#roadmap)



--



##### TL;DR example



RDF should be as easy as playing with JSON objects.



Read the original blog post: [_Towards the future RDF Library_](http://nicola.io/future-rdf/2015/)



```javascript

var simple = require('simplerdf')

var context = { 'name': 'http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name' }

var me = simple(context)

// You can now edit the foaf name simply with

me.name = 'Nicola'

// as well as using the full predicate

me['http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name'] = 'Nicola'

```



## Install



As a Node.js library



```javascript

npm install --save simplerdf

```



To generate a browser-ready version:

```

$ git clone https://github.com/nicola/simplerdf

$ cd simplerdf

$ npm install

$ npm run build-browser

# This will generate `simplerdf.js` that you can load in your web application

```



## Quick tutorial



### 1) Create a SimpleRDF object (easy peasy)



```javascript

// The constructor takes 4 optional parameters:

// `context` is a JSON-LD context, useful if you want to

//           map predicates to nice property names

// `uri`     is the name of the resource

// `graph`   if you want to load an `rdf-ext` graph

// `store`   see the FAQ!

var simple = require('simplerdf')



var me = simple({

  'name': 'http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name'

})



// You can directly set properties defined in your context

me.name = 'Nicola'

console.log(me.name)

// 'Nicola'



// Or you can set the property with a particular type pointer

me['http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name'] = 'Nicola'

console.log(me['http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name'])

// 'Nicola'



// These are interchangable

me['http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name'] = 'Nicola'

console.log(me.name)

```



### 2) Using arrays (simple pimple)



You want to enforce an property to be always an array? Pass `'@container': '@set'` in the schema description!



```javascript

me.context({

  'name': 'http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name',

  'knows': {

    '@id': 'http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/knows',

    '@type': '@id',

    '@container': '@set'

  }

})

// now we can use me.knows (this will be an array!)



me.knows = ['http://nicola.io/#me']

me.knows.at(0)

me.knows.map(function (object) { return 'hello' + object })

me.knows.length

```



**Note**: You just want to do me.knows[0] ? We are implementing this at the moment, stay tuned!



### 3) Use CRUD features `.get` and `.save` (crifty crafty)



SimpleRDF supports some simple .get/.save. These respects the Linked Data Platform standard (have a look at [LDP](https://www.w3.org/TR/ldp/))



```javascript

// This gets the iri specified in the constructor

simple(context, iri).get(function(err, g) {

  console.log(g.name)

})



// This saves the graph in the iri specified in the constructor

var g = SimpleRDF(context, iri)

g.name = "Nicola"

g.save()



// Hint for the brave:

// You can also do this

SimpleRDF(context).get(iri1, function (err, g) {

  g.save(iri2, ..)

})

```



### 4) Understanding `.child` (master jedi)



Imagine the you set the `iri` of your graph to be `http://amazing-libraries.org` and you now would like to change the subject to let's say `http://amazing-libraries.org/simplerdf`, you can use `.child(iri)`. This will create a new SimpleRDF object.



```

var amazinglibraries = simple(context, 'http://amazing-libraries.org')

var simplerdf = amazinglibraries.child('http://amazing-libraries.org/simplerdf')

// done!

```



### 5) Understanding `.graph()`, `.iri()` (wicky wacky)



Both these functions are setters if passed with a parameter and getters if no parameter is found. `.graph()` will give you access to an rdf-ext graph, `.graph(newGraph)` will replace the current graph with the new graph. `.iri()` will give you the `iri` that is the subject of your simple object. Finally `.iri(newIri)` will replace your subject



### Bonus: Full working example



See other [working examples](https://github.com/nicola/simplerdf/tree/master/examples)



```javascript

var context = {

  'name': 'http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name',

  'homepage': {

    '@id': 'http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/homepage',

    '@type': '@id'

  }

}

var me = SimpleRDF(context, 'https://nicolagreco.com')

me.name = 'Nicola'

me.homepage = 'http://nicolagreco.com'



console.log(me.name)

console.log(me['http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name'])

console.log(me.toString()) // this returns turtle!

```



## Limitations



- Only subject-centric queries (e.g. `graph.match(you_know_this[, predicate, object])`)

- Schemas must be typed



**Note**: If you want to use any of these two properties, then you want a proper low-level library like [rdf-ext](http://npm.im/rdf-ext) or [rdflib](http://npm.im/rdflib), or send a PR!



## FAQ



#### Can I use it without CRUD, parsers and serializers?



Of course, when you require it, use the lite version



```javascript

var simple = require('simplerdf/lite')

```



#### Can I customize the `.get` and `.set`?



Of course, there are plenty of rdf-ext stores availabe, here are some:



- [rdf-store-fs](https://github.com/rdf-ext/rdf-store-fs) to use the file system as database

- [rdf-store-inmemory](https://github.com/rdf-ext/rdf-store-inmemory) to use memory - can be handy if you are using multiple graphs



Now, when you create a SimpleRDF object you can do the following:



```javascript

var store = require('rdf-store-fs')

var graph = SimpleRDF(context, iri, graph, store)

```



#### How can I do queries that are not subject-centric?



You mean..



```javascript

var simpleObject = SimpleRDF()

// ... //

simpleObject.graph().match(subj, pred, obj)

```



## Roadmap



Coming soon



- [ ] Support of ES6 Proxy

  - No need to specify context

  - Use uri as context

  - Simple array support (e.g. `me.friends[0]`)

- [ ] Simple query language

  - `me.friends[0].get()`



## Contributors



- [@nicola](https://github.com/nicola)

- [@bergos](https://github.com/bergos)

- [@csarven](https://github.com/csarven)



## License



MIT