The Book:

XML is one of a family of web standards for data description, validation, manipulation, and interchange. It enables the construction of application-specific data languages, which can be handled by generic tools. Its other main benefits are its platform independence, self-describing structure, and human readability.

All the big relational database vendors are adding XML support to their databases - and their confidence in XML as a maturing data standard is strengthening. Microsoft's commitment to XML extends beyond the database to include application and presentation layers, particularly in .NET. The nascent field of web services will depend on the effective interface between relational databases and the XML messages that link them.

SQL Server 2000 XML Distilled is for you if:

• You are an experienced SQL Server professional (a DBA or data-tier developer) with a knowledge of the basics of XML who is being asked either to present relational data in an XML format, or to store XML data
• You are wondering what the motivation is in combining SQL Server 2000 and XML
• You want to understand what support SQL Server 2000 provides for these tasks
• You need the detail on the latest SQL Server XML features provided in SQLXML 3.0
• You are concerned about the security and performance consequences of the design choices you make

SQL Server 2000 XML Distilled shows you:

• Where XML as a data model makes sense
• When and how best to get both relational databases and XML to work together
• How to set up and configure the SQL Server XML environment
• How to query SQL Server data and return an XML format - FOR XML, URL, and template queries
• Ways to map between relational and XML schemas
• SQL Server Annotated Schemas, XML Views, and XPath queries
• How to store XML data in a relational database - OPENXML, Updategrams, and SQLXML BulkLoad
• .NET support for XML in SQL Server 2000 - SQLXML Managed Classes and DiffGrams
• Case studies of multi-client data access and Biztalk working with SQL Server 2000
• The future of XML support in SQL Server - web services and XQuery

Curlingstone is a new imprint providing practical information on all aspects of the technology, techniques and job roles that form the database community.

My Review of this Book:

XML is quickly becoming omni-present and it is very essential for every developer and DBA to have a good understanding of what XML is, how it works, how to use it effectively, and understand its advantages and disadvantages. Not surprisingly, there are so many books out there, that teach you how to work with XML. I did buy some "other" books (not going to name them here) before, with the idea of becoming a guru with SQLXML :-) But sadly, I didn't find them very useful and most of the information they provided can be found in SQL Server Books Online or MSDN. What I was looking for, was a practical guide to SQLXML, that deals with real world scenarios.

Recently, I received a copy of this book "SQL Server 2000 XML Distilled" from Curlingstone. Had a chance to read through chapters of my interest, and found this book to be "Complete". It is very comprehensive, covers a vast variety of aspects related to SQL Server in conjunction with XML. There are a couple case studies as well, that teach you how to implement SQLXML based solutions. The coverage of contents, goes way beyond Books Online and MSDN. Adequate attention is paid to performance related issues, where applicable. Best of all, this books is published very recently, so SQLXML version 3.0 SP1 is covered, which is the latest version of SQLXML available from Microsoft, at the time of writing this review (18th Jan 2003). The team of authors includes an SQL Server MVP and industry leading experts.

I highly recommend this book for any developer/programmer or DBA interested in learning and implementing XML based solutions.

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Click here to read a sample chapter from this book!