I dont understand something.... What is actually the point of XML...

[Jaycee24]

I have a flash book with a section about XML in it (Called Server Side Flash). I have read the XML chapter and understand a little about the tags and setting up files etc.

But it never actually says what the point to XML is...?

Why is it better than say, drawing information from a database or .txt file?

Please convince me to learn more about this thing you call XML

Thanks

[VAYKENT]

My one liner:

XML offers a method for describing data and it's relationship to other data.

You can't get that from name/value pairs, or Arrays... well - you might be able to figure out a way to do it, but XML naturally does that.

Check out:

http://xml.com

http://www.oreillynet.com/faqs/list.csp?id_subject=23

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/faqs/xml_faq_import

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/faqs/xml_faq_xmlsoft

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/faqs/xml_faq_terms


I'll be adding these links to the Forum Sticky...

[tupps]

Also XML provides an efficent transporting mechanism for data. One of the problems with a Database is you have to be able to give people access to it. Over the last couple of weeks we all know why Database servers shouldn't be publicly exposed.

As for text files they don't properly describe the data. For a text file to work it has to be in a fixed format before hand. If this format changes the application will break. With XML you can change what is included in your data (eg additional Attributes nodes) without breaking existing applications.

[mcp]

To build on what Tupps said:

For my company and me it gives us all the functionality and in some cases more than a db without the hassle of middleware such as ASP or PHP. With XML we can host it on our local server or package it up on a CD with Flash or XSLT templates, now the client has the site at their fingertips and they never have to get a connection to hit our servers behind our firewalls. We can also share our XML docs with other departments and dictate certain criteria with Schemas.

It's a wonderful thing!

[mcp]

To build on what Tupps said:

For my company and me it gives us all the functionality and in some cases more than a db without the hassle of middleware such as ASP or PHP. With XML we can host it on our local server or package it up on a CD with Flash or XSLT templates, now the client has the site at their fingertips and they never have to get a connection to hit our servers behind our firewalls. We can also share our XML docs with other departments and dictate certain criteria with Schemas.

It's a wonderful thing!

[eyezberg]

xml just holds data;
this data can then be formatted to suit display on many different platforms,
such as computers, mobiles, pocket pc's etc..all using the same file!

And, as stated above, it's simple text files, easy to maintain and update without the need for a database backend
(from which you can always output the data to an xml file..)