Notebooks

Mentor supports interactive notebooks that allow you to combine executable SPARQL queries, RDF data snippets and Markdown content for data science, query development and learning RDF. Mentor notebooks have the file extension .mnb.

Zero Setup Query

What makes Mentor notebooks unique is a zero-setup approach: the Workspace Index provides you a triple store at your fingertips without the need for any configuration. The data in this triple store can be version-controlled, shared and published with ease using Git repositories.

Creating Notebooks

There are multiple ways to create notebooks in Mentor:

From the Mentor View

1. Select the Mentor icon in the sidebar.
2. Click on the button in the tree view header of the Workspace Tree.
3. Select “Mentor Notebook” from the list.

From the Editor

1. Open a SPARQL or RDF data file in the editor
2. Click on the icon in the upper right corner of the editor

From the Command Palette

1. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
2. Type “Create Notebook”
3. Select “Mentor: Create Notebook” from the dropdown

Creating Cells

Mentor notebooks are implemented as native Visual Studio Code Jupyter notebooks. You can create new cells by either clicking on the Code or Markdown buttons in the notebook toolbar or by hovering at the bottom edge of existing cells:

The buttons in the toolbar append new cells to the notebook, while clicking on the buttons at the bottom edge of existing cells will create a new cell right below the hovered cell.

Markdown

Markdown cells allow you to write rich text using Markdown which allows you to add headings, lists, links, images, and more. It’s an ideal format for structured text that focuses on content rather than presentation.

It is common practise to use Markdown cells for documenting competency questions the subsequent queries provide answers for. In general, documentation content of the notebooks should focus on the ‘why’ some modeling or queries are structured the way they are instead of the ‘how’ which is usually covered by the code itself.

Adding Diagrams

Using the Markdown Preview Support extension, you can also add diagrams to your Markdown cells using the Mermaid syntax.

SPARQL Queries

SPARQL cells allow you to write and execute SPARQL queries against the Workspace Index or any connected SPARQL endpoint. To enable SPARQL cells, simply create a new code cell and select “SPARQL” as the cell language.

All editor features are available within SPARQL cells, including syntax highlighting, autocompletion, and error checking. To execute a SPARQL cell, select the connection in the Code Lens located at the top of the cell and click the button in the cell toolbar.

RDF Data

RDF Data cells allow you to write data in all supported serialization formats. To create an RDF Data cell, simply create a new code cell and select any of the RDF serialization formats as the cell language.

Tip

Notebook cells are treated just like any other file in your workspace. This means they get their own graph in the in-memory triple store and the contents can be explored using the Definitions Tree.