Hi Serge,
First off, you may want to read up on Service Oriented Architecture.
Here's a link to one of Pat Helland's recent articles
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...sideinside.asp
XML is useful if you need to communicate complicated data in a standardized
way.
It is best used when communicating from system to system, as some of the
other responders have implied.
Since I can create a schema that defines the RULES that a valid XML document
must follow, I can pass a schema to my trading partner, and they can write
software that will meet the schema, and I can commit to them that I can
accept the data they write. This is a Dramatic improvement over current
practice when integrating systems.
That said, I've also used XML as a mechanism to store "semi-structured"
data. This is data that, from the standpoint of the storage system, is
essentially a BLOB, but has a structure. For example, if I have a wide
range of XML documents stored in SQL Server 2005 (Yukon), I can store the
documents into an XML field and query on the data in a very flexible manner.
I could have 10 rows in an inventory table, where the first five rows store
data about computers, and the next five rows store data about monitors. The
XML structure can be defined so that there are common elements dealing with
inventory tags and locations, and embedded elements dealing with resolution
(for monitors) or CPUs (for computers). I can issue a single XQuery against
this table and retrieve all the inventory tags, and another XQuery against
the table and retrieve all the CPU information for the rows that deal with
computers.
This ability to store semi-structured data is very powerful in many ways.
I also use XSLT to transform XML documents into other formats, although I'm
not well versed in the XSLT language (I use tools mostly). For example, I
have a workflow system that manages any number of different workflow
documents. Each document type comes with an XSLT that allows my GUI to
display information about the workflow item without my GUI needing to know
anything about the structure and format of the workflow document itself
(another example of semi-structured data).
XML is not a silver bullet. It doesn't solve every problem. However, it is
a very useful technology to add to your tool belt.
--
--- Nick Malik [Microsoft]
MCSD, CFPS, Certified Scrummaster
http://blogs.msdn.com/nickmalik
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this forum are my own, and not
representative of my employer.
I do not answer questions on behalf of my employer. I'm just a
programmer helping programmers.
--
"serge calderara" <se************@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:93**********************************@microsof t.com...
dear all,
I have benn going through a .net possibility such as amanging XMLDocument
and xml transmorf function.
In that set of features I am really swimming deep under the water, I have
nearly no more heirs. In fact I do not know the real benefit of using
those XMLDocument or XLS transformation files.
In that my problem is that I do not really see when this can of feature
can be use, and the real benefit of those, concrete examples.
For me at a first step xml format was for being able to read the same file
either from a windows application or web browser, but if you open a xml
file with browsser sure it open it but as raw data, so wht is the need.
I really need some real light to help me understand this XML approah and
real application case to make me understand better when to use them
Thnaks a lor for you help
regards
Serge