SQL All-In-One For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 1

Using XML with SQL

IN THIS CHAPTER

Using XML to bridge communication gaps

Becoming familiar with XML and XML document parts

Working with SQL’s XML data type

Mapping SQL to XML

Operating on XML data with SQL functions

XML stands for Extensible Markup Language, a general-purpose markup language that, like HTML, is a subset of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language). XML’s primary purpose is to serve as a means of sharing information between information systems that could have very different architectures. SQL provides the worldwide standard method for storing data in a highly structured fashion, which enables users to maintain data stores of a wide range of sizes and efficiently extract from those data stores the information they want. XML has risen from a de facto standard to an official standard vehicle for transporting data between incompatible systems, particularly over the Internet. Bringing these two powerful methods together greatly increases the value of both. ...