using XML instead of Database

[rakma]

Hi Guys, my first post here.

I am trying to develop a web site using XML. What I want to do is to use XML so that I can improve sorting/search of data on a web site that I administer.

Can someone please point me in some direction, it is highly appreciated!

Thanks!

Rakma

[Khalid Ali]

IMHO, replacing a database with XML is a bad choice, it sounds good but it can grow out of hand over the period of time.
I'd say always use a RDBMS for any persistance that may be needed for your application.

[lcscne]

Khalid,
can you give more specifics on when to use XML vs DBMS? Are there any websites that do a good comparison as to when to use full blown DBMS vs when to use XML? I'm reading about DTDs and Schemas and it looks like XML is pretty close to having all that is required for a normalized relational database. What's unclear now is where XML fits into all the other technologies available to us. Is it strictly a record quantity thing and if so how many records are too many for XML?

[Khalid Ali]

I personally don't think XML is a storage tool, nor its intent was.
Its something that along the way people started to see that XML might be used in that manner as well.
The core purpose for XML's being is to provide a way for developers to keep directions and contents in a single file, and then at a later stage that content can be viewed according to the directions, and thats it.
I can not tell you how big is too big of a file becuase its all dependent upon the system resources a 800kb file can be a system crasher for a cell phone but would not cause any headach for a 2ghz PC.
As I said before if you don't want to spend money and resources to develop something with RDBMS then make sure that your XML file sizes does not excede then few hundred KB's because you don't want your pages to be slow like hell.
Any resources for XML?
well I have always gone to following 2 website.
w3c.org
xml.org

good luck