Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 5.40
Do business over Internet by using XML.
When data are exported from various applications, they can all be formatted to XML data. With
the common representation in XML, the data can be exchanged over heterogeneous computer sys-
tems and various programming languages. For example, consider the computer store covered in the
previous activities. he computer store may have multiple sales centers and may have multiple hard-
ware and software suppliers. Let us assume that the applications such as spreadsheet and forms at each
sales center are created with diferent software from that at the company's headquarters. Meanwhile,
the company orders computer parts from various suppliers. he data formats and computer systems
used by these suppliers also vary. To meet the requirements for data conversion, the company requires
its sales centers to submit their sales information in an XML document and convert computer part
order forms to XML iles for part suppliers. he business process is illustrated in the Figure 5.40.
In the following section, we will discuss the XML data type and how to store XML data in a
database.
5.7.1 Introduction to Extensible Markup Language
Like HTML, XML uses tags to deine data formats. XML has the following advantages over HTML:
◾
XML allows users to create tags to represent database object structures such as views, tables,
or stored procedures. It does not depend on a ixed set of predeined tags.
◾
XML separates the document structure from the content. In this way, the same set of
XML data can be used for diferent applications such as forms, reports, text documents, or
spreadsheets.
◾
XML is platform-independent. Various types of data can be converted to XML data, and
then the XML data can be imported to diferent applications.
