org.openrdf.query.MalformedQueryException for SparQL insert

Question

I've read ways on how to insert data using SPARQL. Some references use INSERT while other references use INSERT DATA. So, I'm confused on how will I do the query. My goal is to insert a data property which is the CourseName to a class "Course" in my ontology. Here is my query:

INSERT{
    <http://www.semanticweb.org/rocky/ontologies/2015/3/CurriculumOntology#Course> curr:CourseName "IT222".
            }

I've tried this query and an exception appears which says:

SparqlReasonerException: org.openrdf.query.MalformedQueryException: Encountered " "insert" "INSERT "" at line 9, column 1.
Was expecting one of:
    "base" ...
    "prefix" ...
    "select" ...
    "construct" ...
    "describe" ...
    "ask" ...

is the subject of the triple wrong? or what should i really need to put on the subject of the triple? and why does an exception appears? btw, I'm using Protege in modeling my ontology.

It looks like you're issuing a SPARQL *UPDATE* to something which is expecting a SPARQL *QUERY* instead. In SPARQL (and unlike SQL) you can't INSERT / DELETE etc where a query is expected. — user205512, Apr 10 '15 at 10:39

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

I've read ways on how to insert data using SPARQL. Some references use INSERT while other references use INSERT DATA.

There's insert data for inserting literal data into a graph, and there's a more complicated delete/insert (which requires at least one delete or insert, but you don't have to do both), which will let you do insert { … } where { … }. These are defined in the standard which is freely available online; you don't have to resort to secondary sources. The standard defines insert data with syntax:

INSERT DATA QuadData

and delete/insert with syntax:

( WITH IRIref )?
( ( DeleteClause InsertClause? ) | InsertClause )
( USING ( NAMED )? IRIref )*
WHERE GroupGraphPattern

DeleteClause ::= DELETE QuadPattern
InsertClause ::= INSERT QuadPattern

So yours is a simple syntax error. You need INSERT DATA, not DELETE/INSERT. Thus:

INSERT DATA {
  <http://www.semanticweb.org/rocky/ontologies/2015/3/CurriculumOntology#Course> curr:CourseName "IT222".
}

You can check syntax with sparql.org's update validator.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 26 '22 at 12:45

Sorry for mine five cents. But perhaps it's a result of wrong "GET" or "POST" request to the SPARQL server.

Try to catch request to the server. In mine case I managed to the same issue after request string correction.

.../sparql?query=...

to

.../sparql?update=...

I believe that Protege has the option to send update data query correctly.

org.openrdf.query.MalformedQueryException for SparQL insert

2 Answers2