Jeff Moden (2/22/2013)
I've been up to my eyes with work and they only have SQL Server 2005 so I haven't even broken the surface on Extended Events. That explains my apparent shock and mortification when I say "REALLY!!!! They screwed EE up with XML???" :sick:
Ha! The output is XML, yes. But, you have options to avoid it. There's the Data Explorer in 2012 that lets you just look at the output from the buffer or open files, no XML required. There is also a way to query the files directly through an extended stored procedure, again, avoiding XML.
However, if you want direct, raw access to the data, yep, it's XML. Personally, I'm OK with that.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning