XML a must ? 3

[Deadline]

Hello,


I apologise, if this sounds a little primitive a question.

For a VB/ASP Veteran, who wants to indulge in .Net, is XML a pre-requisite ? To what extent ?


Thank you,
RR.
__________________________________
The best is yet to come.

 

[Pyramus]

You don't have to use XML in .NET, depends on what you're doing. I'm interested to hear what you think XML is- it's not a language like VB, it's just a way to hold information in a file. Have you used CSV files before? XML is basically a fancy CSV file.

Yes, .NET has some great APIs to help you read in and manipulate these XML files, but you can do a lot without XML too.

However, you shouldn't just ignore XML- even with a basic understand of XML structure, it is still very powerful when used in the right places.

XML isn't the answer to everything though.

 

[chiph]

XML isn't the answer to everything though.

Amen to that!

I've seen XML used for some really strange things. Like a database - person read it into a DOM, updated it, and wrote the entire file back out (and couldn't understand why it had problems in a multi-user environment ).

But, like you say, XML is excellent for it's intended purpose - transferring data between remote parts of a system. We use it for importing/exporting data with our customers. It doesn't matter if they're IBM mainframe, Unix, or Microsoft - XML provides the glue.

I've also seen a good use for it in passing data around "pluggable" parts of a system. You define a XSD (XML Schema Doc) that the plugs conform to, and you can write modules that can do anything, as long as they read/write XML that conforms to the doc.

Chip H.

 

[link9]

And from a well formed XML doc, VID.NET will even make the XSD for you.

;-)

 

[chiph]

link9 -

Didn't know that - I've been using XML Spy. It'll even produce graphical diagrams for your documentation.

You can download a 30-day trial copy at their website.

Chip H.