Hope i'm in the right section. Friend of mine keeps prodding me to learn XML and while i have had a quick look at it, it doesn't appear too hard to pick up but would i also have to learn SQL/databases. Thanks folks. MB

XML Technical Documentation

XML - Extensible Markup Language

XML is a super duper turbo extra special version of HTML.... hehe, well not exactly. XML has developed from the demand that New Technoloy has today, just another way to develop web pages.

No you will not have to learn SQL/Database but knowing both is great. Keep in mind that SQL is actually a scripting language while XML is a markup language, both have different puposes, and understanding this is important.

Hey thanks for the speedy reply and the link DarkRaika. Think i'll go and have a look around for some tuts
Cya! MB

No Problem dude, programming is a forte of mine, I'm always keen to help out others with Programming or Networking issues.

If your interested you should try catch me in the #bleepingcomputer channel on IRC, you will usually find me there.

DR

XML is so much more than just delivering up web pages.... an XML file is a self contained database of sorts. HTML is used to tell how to display some content. XML gives information about the structure and symantics of that content. unlike HTML, XML users can define their own data tags. If you wrap XML in RDF, then not only are you able to tell information about structure and syntax, but you are able to identify relations between data objects. One of the cool things about XML is that you can pull xml from a variety of sites and combine them in such a way to create an entirely new datatype. For instance, if you wanted to research how weather effects bird migratory patterns, you could combine data from any weather service, bird species, and migration patterns, and combine them in such a way to find correlations between the data... I personally find that very cool.

XML is also useful for web applications, because only the data that has changed needs to be transmitted back and forth, thus cutting down on the need to hit the database across the network (although the trade off is sometimes a longer initial load time).

Different XML files can be parsed and combined to create brand new XML files. By using schemas or DTDs, you can verify that the integrity of the XML file, and verify the correctness of your data. Granted, XML is somewhat limited because it can not define data restraints.

..and it can deliver web pages, or even RSS.

SQL is a language for quering and manipulating data in relational databases, and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with XML, although XML data can be stored in a relational database. There are many other ways to store data.

I have only just started learning XML so that any and all information/advice i can get is always appreciated. I currently view any files i build via IE6, but is there anyway to view the information stored in an XML file without seeing the tags used to build the file and, finally, is there anyway i could use CSS for example to enhance the appearance of the information in the XML file? Sorry for all the questions. Thanks in advance. MB

Sure, you can attach a stylesheet to it.. maybe your first step should be to read al of the W3 recommendations:
http://www.security-forums.com/profile.php...profile&u=37904

Read this article and you will know the technical details of XML