One of the powerful features when using DataSet's is its ability to represent Xml data. There are a few ways that you can use Xml with the DataSet, today we are going to load an Xml document directly into the DataSet object.

Your XML document is a well-organized container of information, but it seems static. Although the document format is useful in representing information structurally, you still tied down to software applications specifically made to handle it.

Roughly five years ago Microsoft introduced the Universal Data Access (UDA) architecture, which promised to simplify working with enterprise data. The UDA strategy promoted exposing data through a single suite of COM interfaces known collectively as OLE DB, the idea being that a single suite of interfaces lowers the bar for consumers and makes it easier for them to access a variety of supported data stores whether they are relational or nonrelational. In an OLE DB-centric world, consumers no longer needed to worry about learning the details of native (data source-specific) APIs.

Namespaces are the source of much confusion in XML, espe-cially for those new to the technology. Most of the questions that I receive from readers, students, and conference attendees are related to namespaces in one way or another. It's actually kind of ironic since the Namespaces in XML Recommendation (http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml-names) is one of the shorter XML specifications, coming in at just under 10 pages, excluding appendices. The confusion, however, is related to namespace semantics as opposed to the syntax outlined by the specification. To fully understand XML namespaces, you must know what a namespace is, how namespaces are defined, and how they are used.

Some Q/A with Aaron Skonnard about XML Encoding, DTDs and Namespaces, Binary Data, Namespace Identifiers, and More .

Developers usually want their Web applications to work successfully for the widest possible audience, so they frequently develop for the lowest common denominator. When it comes to managing state on the client machine, most developers use cookies or hidden-field forms and embedded query string values. However, if you can be sure your users are running Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5.0, you can take advantage of the newly introduced client-side persistence behaviors that offer a better solution for managing state.

A tree-based task manager with native XML support for easy web site integration

In John Simpson's latest XML Q&A column he describes several ways, including those for XSLT/XPath 2.0 and EXSLT, to tokenize strings.

The European XML conference (XML Europe) took place last month in Amsterdam. One of the presentations was titled "refactoring XML" and, without going that far, one of the main recurring themes was certainly refactoring the uses of XML.

There is a new XML API in town called StAX (Streaming API for XML). With SAX (Simple API for XML), DOM (Document Object Model), and TrAX (Transformation API for XML), do we really need another API in the JAXP (Java API for XML Processing) family for processing XML documents? I would argue, yes.

Matt Powell explores different ways to use XmlElement parameters with your Web service to access raw XML data and gain high-level control.

One of the biggest concerns we hear from developers when we talk about the potential of XML Web Services is the fear of vulnerabilities that might allow malicious users to attack their services. The bad news is that attacks can result in such atrocities as limiting the availability of your service, private data being compromised, or in the worse case, losing control of your machines to these malicious users. The good news is that there are real protections available to you that can limit the risks involved from these attacks. We are going to take a look at what kind of attacks are out there, and what you can do to protect yourself in the areas of deployment, design and development. This first column on the subject will focus on deployment issues you should consider; in our next column, we will look at design and development issues that you need to be aware of when developing your XML Web Services.

In the last article, we talked about different kinds of attacks, and what you can do from a configuration standpoint to protect yourself from these attacks. In this article, we will focus on design and development issues in regard to attack prevention.

You are a pencil-reselling tycoon. As a pencil-reselling tycoon, you require constant information on the state of your suppliers in order to get the best price and to meet the demands of the pencil retailers who purchase your product. Your suppliers are your lifeline, so you must always know exactly what price they are asking, whether or not they have stock available for immediate shipping, the general quality of their product, and their timeliness in fulfilling orders.

Despite advancements in network and processor speeds, performance remains a key concern among application developers. So whether you are writing an XML Web service, pushing image bitmaps to a video card, or even engineering that next great processing chip, you will invariably want to consider utilizing a universal mechanism for improving performance: a cache.

In the three previous At Your Service columns, Scott and I have demonstrated how an industry could create a common XML Web service interface for purchasing the standard products for the industry. Our approach was quite simplistic in order to demonstrate with minimal overhead the technical aspects of:

By using XML programming, Excel, Access, and Active Server Pages, one consultant automated a client's order entry process, cut the time the client had to spend rekeying data, and eliminated order entry errors.

Columnist Uche Ogbuji begins his practical exploration of knowledge management with XML by illustrating techniques for populating Resource Description Framework (RDF) models with data from existing XML formats. As shown in the three code listings, RDF can be used as a companion to customized XML, not just as a canonical representation for certain types of data. This column, with code samples included, demonstrates how easy it can be to jump-start knowledge management with RDF even relatively late in the development game.

In this column, Uche Ogbuji completes his introduction to XML and semantics, setting the stage for the more practical columns that will follow. Thinking XML addresses knowledge management aspects of XML, including metadata, semantics, Resource Description Framework (RDF), Topic Maps, and autonomous agents. Approaching the topic from a practical perspective, the column aims to reach programmers rather than philosophers.

This discussion of XML and semantics kicks off a column by Uche Ogbuji on knowledge management aspects of XML, including metadata, semantics, Resource Description Framework (RDF), Topic Maps, and autonomous agents. Approaching the topic from a practical perspective, the column aims to reach programmers rather than philosophers.