Storing XML Data in a SQL Database

XML documents are well-structured documents with standard validation.These file types are parsed in a standardized way with description tools such as schema and DTD.

Regular text files, on the other hand, are easier to write owing to their disregard for any description rules such as the use of tags. Due to this reason, they are quite challenging to parse by any parser.

XML can be used to open many applications due to its structured nature whereas it is limited for a regular text file owing to its unstructured nature.

Parsing is easy when using an extensible markup language as compared to plain text due to its well-defined structure.

Factors to consider when deciding whether it is worth indexing an XML column in a SQL database (DouglasMs).

One should consider indexing an XML column when XML values are considerably large yet the parts to be retrieved are few. Indexes would save a user from parsing the entire data during its execution time.

Another factor to be considered is when the queries on the XML columns would recur on the user’s workload. An XML index would save the resource when modifying data in the SQL database and hence must be observed.

Pros and cons of storing an XML data in SQL database rather than storing the XML as documents in a file system

Pros.

Storing an XML data in a SQL database guarantees the security of the data as compared to its storage in a file system.

XML data type allows for an index of its data values

XML data type allows schema validation

Cons

Data replication for XML data types will not synchronize the changes between the subscriber and publisher.

The XML data type is storage inefficient in SQL server database.

Reference

DouglaslMS. (n.d.). XML Indexes (SQL Server).

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