Recently, there was an excellent thread on the CF-Talk list... check the archives for "Why XML".
A few additional comments here: You will probably use XML "along with" a database, rather than "in place of" (versus) a database. XML is an excellent vehicle for exchanging (moving) complex data: within a program among programs in an application among different applications in different organizations While many traditional databases can store XML documents (in a large text field), they are not very efficient from a storage standpoint. More important, traditional databases cannot manipulate XML documents directly... they must be retrieved by the db engine into memory; then they are manipulated by an application program. Simply stated, SQL can't traverse an XML document's structure. There is an emerging class of XML databases which can efficiently store and manipulate XNL documents. These XML dbs will, likely, co-exist with traditional dbs, rather than replace them. Here's an example of a Practical Application of XML: Say that you are a manufacturer, and you want to make your catalog/price list available to your distributors/customers. An XML document has many advantages as the vehicle for exchange: in can be read/understood by both humans and machines the information is structured more naturally (a contiguous hierarchy instead of being dispersed among interrelated tables) it is, by definition, structurally valid/complete (or it won't parse) it is independent of any proprietary db system (at either end of the exchange) XML can easily handle complex structures that are unwieldy in other data exchange formats such as CVS An XML document's content and structure can easily be displayed in a browser or a text editor HTH Dick At 4:33 PM -0500 10/15/01, Wolf, Brandon wrote: >First a hello to the group, I've been a subscriber for a while, but this is >my first question/contribution to the list. > >I'm very familiar with CF, and I have a conceptual understanding of XML. >However, I have trouble finding a real-world usage of XML with the apps that >I build. I know I'd love to use it, I just don't know how. It seems in every >example I've seen (which are few and mainly add to the concept, I admit) >I've not run across anything that would set off a lightbulb in my head to >say "I could use that" - how to make a CD catalog or Simple Inventory is >fine, but why would I use XML versus a database? I realize the meta-data >markup to a document is extremely valuable, but I've seen no metrics on >performance, or how that meta-data could be leveraged with something more >complex than a simple catalog. > >So with that said, does anyone out there have real-world apps built on a >CF-XML architecture they would care to explain, even if just an brief >overview? The technology needs no explanation, just how it's being used. > >I apologize if that's a vague question, I'm just having trouble grasping the >flow of data >For example: >- user input(form) to xml then to end-user. >- user input(form) to a database field as XML, then queried and transformed >via XSL to the end user >- database fields queried, written to XML then transformed via XSL to end >user >- database fields queried, written nightly to XML documents, then syndicated >across HTTP streams to subscribers > >Some/None/All of the above? I can't seem to find a "best practices" for >leveraging XML in dynamic apps. > >Any help appreciated, even if it's links and/or a reiteration of an existing >email that was similar to my question. > >Thanks! > >Brandon Wolf > > > >-----------------------+ >cf-xml mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >http://torchbox.com/xml -----------------------+ cf-xml mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://torchbox.com/xml
