Using XML with Legacy Business Applications

Making XML a Native Storage Format

Even with some “XML databases” popping up here and there, I doubt if XML will ever replace the relational databases used for most business applications. The relational model with SQL and ODBC is just too well known, proven by time, and well entrenched. If it isn't broken, why fix it? However, applications use several types of data (for example, configuration files) that aren't necessarily stored in relational databases even if the bulk of application data is. The utilities in this book use XML for such a purpose. Using XML in these situations can often be easier than writing code in native Java or C++. This is especially true if you want to make sure that the configuration information is valid before loading ...