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The Java Content Repository API (JSR-170) is an attempt to standardize an API that can be used for accessing a content repository. If you're not familiar with content management systems (CMS) such as Documentum, Vignette, or FileNet, then you must be wondering what a content repository is. Think of a content repository as a generic application "data store" tht can be used for storing both text and binary data (images, word processor documents, PDFs, etc.). One key feature of a content repository is that you don't have to worry about how the data is actually stored: data could be stored in a RDBMS or a filesystem or as an XML document. In addition to providing services for storing and retrieving your data, most content repositories provide advanced services such as uniform access control, searching, versioning, observation, locking, and more.

If Sir Thomas were writing today, he would do well to include a chapter on data management in his book. In an ideal world, what would data management be like? While we can only fancy More's description, the Java Content Repository API (JSR 170) [2] expert group may have a partial answer. The new API, which was approved as a final Java standard by the JCP [3] on May 31st, claims to radically simplify Java data management by creating a unified access model for data repositories.

The Content Repository for Java Technology specification, developed under the Java Community Process as JSR-170, aims to meet these industry needs. The specification provides a unified API under the javax.jcr namespace that allows you to access any specification-compliant repository implementation in a vendor-neutral manner.