xml-dev - XML and LDAP: Common APIs?

[Jeff Turner <jeff@socialchange.net.au>]

Hi,

I was just thinking how similar the XML and LDAP data models are. LDAP
gives you a tree, where each node can contain data -and- can act as a
namespace for other nodes. This corresponds pretty closely to XML (or
maybe SML).

Has anyone explored the possibility of crossover APIs for accessing all
these 'tree-like' data structures in a standardised way? I'd like to be
able to traverse an LDAP directory with DOM or SAX. How about querying
LDAP with an XPath expression, or a stylesheet? Going the other way, how
about accessing an XML document with an API like Sun's JNDI? I see that
Sun have got a DSML "service provider", but wouldn't it be possible to
generalise this to access any well-formed XML?

Since LDAP is usually layered on a database, doesn't LDAP provide a
simple kind of XML Database? Has anyone tried to map XML directly into
LDAP like this?

--Jeff