thanks Saqib, I'll try to clearly explain my problem in spite of my poor english (sorry).
I've got a tomcat, including the xindice.war. I try from an external java programm to connect the database running under tomcat : import org.xmldb.api.base.*; import org.xmldb.api.modules.*; import org.xmldb.api.*; public class myUpdate { public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { Collection col = null; try { String driver = "org.apache.xindice.client.xmldb.DatabaseImpl"; Class c = Class.forName(driver); Database database = (Database) c.newInstance(); DatabaseManager.registerDatabase(database); try{ col = DatabaseManager.getCollection("xmldb:xindice://jeremie:8888/db/adressbook"); System.out.println("La collection est : "+col); }catch(Exception e){ System.out.println(e.toString()+" "); e.printStackTrace(); System.exit(1); } String xpath = "//person[fname = 'fname1']"; XPathQueryService service = (XPathQueryService) col.getService("XPathQueryService", "1.0"); ResourceSet resultSet = service.query(xpath); ResourceIterator results = resultSet.getIterator(); while (results.hasMoreResources()) { Resource res = results.nextResource(); System.out.println((String) res.getContent()); } } catch (XMLDBException e) { System.err.println("XML:DB Exception occured " + e.errorCode); } finally { if (col != null) { col.close(); } } } } the url ("xmldb:xindice://jeremie:8888/db/adressbook") is the one i used when i was running the standalone server with the command : $xindice start in the c:\%XINDICE_HOME%\ directory Now i'd like to interact with the database running under tomcat... I've already tried the url you propose but it does'nt work... I hope you'll anderstood my problem... Jeremie