XML in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Databases

XML can play a role in the communications between databases and other software, providing information in an easily reusable form. On the client side, XML data files can be used to offload some nontransactional data search and retrieval applications from busy web servers down to the desktop web browser. On the server side, XML can be used as an alternate delivery mechanism for query results.

XML is also finding use as a supplement to information stored in relational databases, and more and more relational databases include native support for XML, both as a data-retrieval format and a data type. Native XML databases, which store XML documents and provide querying and retrieval tools, are also becoming more widely available. These tools provide a more structured way of storing XML information than collecting documents in a filesystem.

Tip

For more information on the wide variety of XML and data-management tools available and ways to use XML with databases, see http://www.rpbourret.com/xml/XMLDatabaseProds.htm.