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Looking to get into XML

I am looking to get my feet wet with XML data (typically in the form of files) using vb.net 2005 and I would like to learn a few things.
1. How to navigate through the data in teh XML file.
2. How to use XLT to transform the data
3. Basic concepts of XML and the power of the data format.

Any links or books you can offer would be appreciated...

dstanley9

For books, Wrox's Professional XML and Professional XSL are good resources. For VB.NET specific samples try Beginning VB.NET XML.

For online samples check out MSDN:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.xml(vs.80).aspx

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R7AF

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Ted Bouskill

One piece of advice. Don't percieve XML as a "Silver Bullet". XML is great at making hetrogenous data homogenous. However, it is a poor choice for large datasets unless it is a stream transfer data between systems. Most DOM (Document Object Model) manipulation or managment of database sets have to been executed in memory or streamed from disk which can be VERY expensive with large datasets.

I work for a large company that decided to use XML as the primary method for managing data in a complex system. Post deployment we ran into scaling and performance issues. Serializing, searching and managing relational data in the XML was not working as well as expected. The applicaiton was rewritten to use a RDMS and lo and behold, it worked properly! All XML was removed.

I'm an avid proponent of XML and use it extensively. But I know it's strengths and weaknesses and use it when appropriate.

R7AF's comment on well formed XML is VERY, VERY important. Most issues with XML systems I have had to fix are due to poorly formed XML.