using xindice (was : embedded xindice)

[jmt <jm...@dxdydz.net>]

Context : Apache tomcat 4.1.12 ; Xindice 1.1 (latest CVS) ; Debian/Gnu Linux ;
	j2sdk1.4.1 from Sun.

Why xindice1.1 : former version (1.0) does not handle UTF-8.

I have a webapp, called Definitions, which needs to get its data from a 
database. Since the data mostly consist in xml-tagged information, I choose 
xindice.

In the tomcat server, I then have the following web-apps :
	- Definitions
	- Xindice

The initial content has been hand filled (using command line xindice), and 
command line applications written in java access and query the xindice 
database fine.

There are a few things I do not clearly understand :

- is the xindice-embed suitable to my need, since it should not use network 
for request response mechanism ? Or should the database - and the xindice 
classes - be included directly in my final webapp (Definitions) ?

- why does the configuration mechanism for xindice-embed rely on a 
System.Property, while all others parameters for web-applications are 
specified in web-xml files ?

- what should be a "standard" architecture for such a need ?

With many thanks,

jmt