Re: XML versus Relational Database

[Kimbro Staken <kstaken@dbxmlgroup.com>]

Dream Catcher wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
>  Although I am developing an application for securing XML data. This
> morning I woke up and came out a general question: Is it really a better
> idear to store data in XML structure instead of relational table? As we
> know to bulid a DOM tree is quite expensive for main memory...Any advice
> and opinion are cherished...:-)
> 

Whether this is better or not is really going to depend on how much your
application depends on XML. If you're using XML 100% for all data then
storing it in some form of an XML database is probably the way to go
otherwise you need to weigh your usage patterns to determine how much
you really need the burden of mapping into a relational schema. If you
decide to go the XML database route you might want to take a look at the
XML:DB initiative http://www.xmldb.org and join the general mailing list
there. It is a good place to find out more information about XML
database technology. Also I'll second Mike Champion's recommendation of
looking at the work done by Ronald Bourret
http://www.rpbourret.com/xml/XMLDatabaseProds.htm. 

Lastly, if you want a low barrier way to explore the possibilities of an
XML database there are a few Open Source products around including Ozone
http://www.ozone-db.org, 4Suite Server http://www.fourthought.com and of
course, my personal favorite, dbXML http://www.dbxmlgroup.com. By
looking at these you can get a good idea of the different approaches
that can be taken to manage XML data.

> 
> Best Regards
> Wang Yue
> 
>     *------------------------------*
>       Attitude makes the difference
>     *------------------------------*

-- 
Kimbro Staken
Chief Technology Officer
dbXML Group L.L.C
http://www.dbxmlgroup.com