XML Vs RDBMS

[Deepak M]

I've read XML is the language for universal data format.
Does that it can replace my RDBMS ?

[bpearce4827]

I don't think anyone will be replacing their enterprise datbases with XML files anytime soon. I think XML is "universal data" when talking about the need for data exchange between different systems or different companies with different systems.
Meaning that you might be using Oracle and I might be using Informix, and we decide we need to exchange some data with each other through an automated process (HTTP, FTP, etc). If we agree on a set of tags to use in an XML file, we each can develop software in our language of choice that will create or process the document based on our particular database platform and schema. That way, even if I change over to SQL Server, the way you and I exchange data does not change.

[Mirko Froehlich]

I agree that XML is not going to replace RDBMS However, I think that most database vendor are also incorporating XML into their databases in some form, so that you can get XML representations of the data, which could definitely be very useful. For example, you could get an XML representation of a SELECT result, feed it to an XSLT stylesheet, and render it into HTML on a JSP page.
-Mirko

Originally posted by bpearce4827:
I don't think anyone will be replacing their enterprise datbases with XML files anytime soon. I think XML is "universal data" when talking about the need for data exchange between different systems or different companies with different systems.
Meaning that you might be using Oracle and I might be using Informix, and we decide we need to exchange some data with each other through an automated process (HTTP, FTP, etc). If we agree on a set of tags to use in an XML file, we each can develop software in our language of choice that will create or process the document based on our particular database platform and schema. That way, even if I change over to SQL Server, the way you and I exchange data does not change.

[Sandeep Potnis]

Hi Guys,
I'm absolutely new to XML so please expect a silly question.
Using XML to translate data between databases/data formats sounds similar to using EDI. How is XML different from EDI ?
rgds
Sandeep