Office 2003 XML

Chapter 8. Importing and Exporting XML with Microsoft Access

Relational databases and XML aren’t always the best of friends. XML documents store information in hierarchies, while relational databases store information in linked tables. XML document structures are typically much more open than relational databases, which focus on regularity for better performance. Because of these differences, it doesn’t make sense to rebuild Microsoft Access as an XML application. Instead, Access uses XML as a means of communicating with the outside world, capable of representing the information it stores as XML and also able to accept new or changed information through XML messages. Add in a little XSLT, and you have a whole new interface for connecting Access to different applications.

Tip

The XML features in Access are available in every copy of Office 2003; there’s no Standard/Professional/Enterprise distinction for you to worry about.

Access XML Expectations

Unlike most of the other Office applications, Access doesn’t really have a custom vocabulary, though it adds a few Office-specific pieces to things like the XML Schemas it generates. The vocabulary that Access speaks “natively” is largely determined by the structures of your database, particularly the names of tables and the fields they contain. If you’ve named your tables and your fields well, you may be pleasantly surprised to find that Access produces some very readable XML. If not, you can’t blame Microsoft, but fortunately they provide ...