zanoni.harris (5/14/2009)
Could someone comment on some of the practical applications of using the XML configuration file approach instead of using a SQL server table?...what I mean is what the advantages of using XML config files that could not be done or be done better vs. using the SQL server table approach, in real world application.
Like a previous poster I use an Environment Variable as the 'parent' package configuration which contains the details of the SQL Server database table in which the 'child' package configurations are stored.
The only advantage I can think of for the XML file approach is that it is more intuitive, i.e. you can see immediately what values you are setting for the variables/connection strings within your package rather than having to ascertain the location/name of table and then query that table.
The big disadvantage is security; by storing the configuration details in a table you can set very granular permissions to that table - important if the table holds connection strings to production environments.
Regards
Lempster