Using XML as a database

Not all the time you will be using xml as a database. They may be situations that might prompt you to do so. If you have a web application in which you are using lots of xml documents to manage the content of your web application and also the users and their permissions, then you might very well consider the use of an xml database.

Using an xml database under such scenario would help you a lot in managing your xml files and the data present in them.

There are simple applications and products that use very less data required to run the application. In such cases the use of xml as database is a wise decision.

This helps you to bundle the xml data too along with the application or the product. In such cases you cannot use a full fledged relational database which is difficult to bundle with the product or the application.

Distribution of the application is a factor that also decides whether to go for an xml document as a database or go for a full fledged database.

If you have decided to use xml as a database then you will be using XQuery, XPath, and XSLT in your application code to manage the xml data.