The query string contains variables that are used to specify query arguments or indicate the type of query. The primary query variable is the word query. All queries use a JSON-type structure.
A basic example that returns the _id key value pairs for every record in the database is:
http://localhost:2222/?query={},{%22_id%22:1}
If you cut and paste this URL into the Google Chrome browser, you will see a result similar to the following. The number of results varies, depending on the number of records in your data store.
{ "retval" : [ { "_id" : { "$oid" : "4d068547e818f7cba1b63688"}} , { "_id" : { "$oid" : "4d06852ee818f7cb95b63688"}} , { "_id" : { "$oid" : "4d068532e818f7cb97b63688"}} , { "_id" : { "$oid" : "4d068535e818f7cb98b63688"}} , { "_id" : { "$oid" : "4d068545e818f7cba0b63688"}} , { "_id" : { "$oid" : "4d068550e818f7cba6b63688"}}] , "ok" : 1.0}
Adding the {"_id":1} limit to the query is a good practice if you want to retrieve the XML in a subsequent query. If this limit is omitted from the query, the full JSON representation will be returned for each result. If the records are large, this could significantly decrease performance.