I don't think the purpose of this particular use of XML is to make it meaningful. It is used as a method to transport data.
For the purposes of this demo, the author takes a clean approach and concisely shows how to accomplish the task. I would object to taking this approach in the real world, however.
It is a small point, but worthy of consideration IMHO: if the insert fails in such a way that the sproc aborts, you leave an open XML document with no handle available. If this happens enough times you will exhaust the "MEMTOLEAVE" area and be forced to restart your SQL server. I would load the XML into a temporary table, destroy the XML document, and then perform the insert, perhaps after validating the data.
This is a good article and it demonstrates a reasonable use of XML in the database.
As I mentioned earlier, the last part of this 4 part article has an error handling example, where the XML handle is released if an error occurs.
Hi jacob,
That's what I get for attempting comprehension before the coffee kicks in.
Your article is very interesting from the viewpoint of presenting a different way to deal with the classic order entry problem. However, it would be useful if you would show some timings for the old way vs. the new way. Specifically:
What is the elapsed time for a single order from a single client? How does the time degrade as the number of users/orders increases?
What is the cost to the SQL Server for each method (CPU, Duration, Reads, Writes)? How does that change as the number of transactions increases?
Again, the technique is interesting, but I think you should show how it compares to the "standard" method from a timing and resources point of view.
Hi Paul,
I will definitely collect some performance data and will post it soon.
Jacob
This article is clean and clear. I hope there is a part two that will shed more light on related topics. This would be very helpful for a DBA greener like me. Thanks.
Amarado
Amarado,
I found (by accident) that if you go to the top of this page and click on "Next Topic" it will take you to what appears to be all of the articles in this series. Look quick before they change it!
