Programming Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2000 with XML (Pro-Developer) [Paperback]

Graeme Malcolm (Author)

Book Description

Series: Pro-Developer | Publication Date: June 30, 2001

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is the lingua franca of business information exchange. And with "Programming Microsoft SQL Server 2000 With XML", developers get the expert guidance they need to build powerful, XML-enabled database applications for line-of-business, e-commerce, and the Web. Server databases are the core engines driving business in the Internet economy, and this practical guide focuses on how to exploit the built-in XML functionality, scalability, and speed in SQL Server 2000 within different business and technological scenarios -- including how to apply what you already know about HTTP and other standards -- for best advantage. The author steps through the development of several real-world solutions, including enterprise knowledge-management systems and ultrascalable electronic retail and business-to-business (B2B) solutions. All the book's code appears on the companion CD-ROM so readers can study and reuse them for their own projects.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For any developer who wants to do more with XML and databases on Windows, Programming Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with XML provides an up-to-date guide to some current XML tools and features available on the Microsoft platform. This example-packed book can let you get more productive with the latest generation of SQL Server tools.

After a quick tour of what XML means for business today, whether in business to consumer (B2C), business to business (B2B), or business to enterprise (B2E) scenarios, this text jumps right in with a tutorial on using XML in Microsoft Transact-SQL (T-SQL) supported in SQL Server. The author provides nuts-and-bolts information on querying databases and returning XML, along with different options for formatting XML data.

Next comes a tutorial for using ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), the preferred standard for programming with databases in Windows, and how to use XML within this API. Short code excerpts will show you how to perform common programming tasks quickly. The support for XML in Microsoft doesn't stop there, of course, and the book next focuses in on support for Web publishing in SQL Server through XML. This powerful feature shows you how to define templates that can be used to query and update data via HTTP using URLs. Sections on mapping schemas show how XML can be used to move data between different database schemas. An important section on the T-SQL OpenXML function shows how to perform a range of database tasks, including inserting XML data in bulk into database tables.

In its closing sections, this text illustrates key technologies using a nicely functional online computer store complete with shopping basket, product catalog, and simulated order processing, all using XML techniques demonstrated earlier on.

In all, this book delivers a solid tour of what's available in SQL Server, ADO, and other Microsoft tools and technologies. Suitable for any Windows IT professional who works with databases, this title is a capable tutorial and guide to what's out there today with XML on the Microsoft platform. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered:

• Overview of today's XML for business used with Microsoft database technologies (integration with XML, B2B, B2C, and B2E scenarios)
• Transact-SQL (T-SQL) support for XML in SQL Server (SELECT FOR XML, RAW, AUTO, and EXPLICIT modes)
• ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) support for XML (XML query templates, executing XML queries)
• SQLOLEDB XML properties (including style sheets and managing the output format)
• Web publishing with SQL Server (SQL Server HTTP publishing overview, publishing a database, virtual directories and IIS, URL queries, plus style sheets and stored procedures)
• XML templates for retrieving data over the Web (templates and parameterized templates, style sheets, posting templates)
• XML mapping schemas (mapping schemas used with ADO and over HTTP, advanced notations)
• Using OpenXML for receiving and inserting XML documents (overflow data and edge tables)
• XML for SQL Server 2000 Web Release (using Updategrams to insert, query, update, and delete XML data)
• Case study for an online computer store using SQL Server and XML (including catalog and shopping basket management, connecting to BizTalk Server 2000)
• Appendix for a basic XML tutorial

Product Details

• Paperback: 277 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press (June 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735613699
• ISBN-13: 978-0735613690
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,807,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's about time, June 12, 2001

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Programming Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2000 with XML (Pro-Developer) (Paperback)

Let's see. SQL Server 2000 has been out for quite some time now. One of the neat features of SQL Server 2000 is XML. Yet, all of the tomes written so far offer nothing more than a cursory glance.

Note, that I am not criticizing the authors of these works for this oversight. Much of the blame lies in Microsoft not having the XML features complete until the very latest betas (release candidates actually, but who is counting).

One of the features with the most promise, updategrams, has not been covered at all (except a mention here and there and a snippet of how the XML is formatted).

Also of note is the documentation of the FOR XML EXPLICIT mode. The 13 pages on this subject give a good intro to get up and going. You will still have to pound out the queries (and probably cuss a bit), but it is nice to finally have some documentation (even the books online were poor here).

A word of warning. This is not a book about how to use SQL Server 2000. It is a very specialized work on SQL Server 2000 and XML. If you want to learn SQL Server 2000, it would be best to look elsewhere.

I would like to give the book a five star rating, but there are areas where I feel the material is a bit too thin. On the other hand, this work is enough to be worth the money spent if you are developing in SQL Server 2000 and XML.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Make sure you buy the 2nd Edition, November 21, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Programming Microsoft® SQL Server(TM) 2000 with XML, Second Edition (Paperback)

Most of the reviews here seem to relate to the first edition (which was admittedly kind of short). The book has been updated, and the second edition covers new stuff like XSD Schemas, Diffgrams, SOAP Virtual Names, and all the other SQLXML 3.0 features. I found the book really useful, and easy to read. The examples are great and the concepts are all well explained. Definitely worth buying if you're planning to use SQL Server's XML functionality.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good! And rapid., October 20, 2001

By 

Malnati Elena (Varese, VA Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Programming Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2000 with XML (Pro-Developer) (Paperback)

I never expected so much useful information into such a small book. Good books don't sell by weight or page count.
I found this book concise and clear (this man knows how to teach). It sure doesn't explain everything about the subject, but it gives the big picture, with an impressive number of details too.
Ideal to start working in small time.
NOTE about who is this book for:
As title state, this book teaches how to use the XML features of SQL Server 2000, not how to use SQL2000, so if you don't know SQL Server you better read something else first.
From the XML XSL XPath X... side, this book is also for novices as it has a very good appendix that teaches all you need to understand the book.