Microsoft's New DNA XML Resource Kit - 02 Mar 2000 update from March 2000

You can do so much with Extensible Markup Language (XML) to make information readable and transportable. Because people can read the XML stream, they can easily debug it. And because XML includes data definitions, virtually any application can read the data it contains. Microsoft supports XML in many of its products, including Internet Explorer (IE), Office, Visual Studio, XML Server, and more. But to add more complete support, Microsoft has introduced the DNA XML Resource Kit (available to MSDN Professional and Universal subscribers.)

Why should SQL Server developers care about XML? XML lets you send data across the Internet to other applications or browsers. And the DNA XML Resource Kit shows you how, providing many tools and code to use with XML. For instance, an ADO, ASP, and XML code example takes an ADO record set, turns it into XML, then sends the XML stream to the browser. Another tool generates Visual Basic (VB) classes from an XML schema. The resource kit also features a sample XML shopping cart implementation.

One tool from the resource kit previews new technology expected in SQL Server 2000, shipping later this year. The tool is an ISAPI filter that lets you use a URL to point to an SQL query on SQL Server. SQL Server then sends the results back to the browser in XML.

Microsoft also includes the XML Parser from IE on the kit's CD-ROM. You can use this form of the parser in your applications and even distribute it with your code. The parser lets you quickly build high-performance applications that use ADO, SQL Server, and other technologies because you don't have to reinvent a parser for each application.