Ways to Use XML in Meta Data Services

Extensible Markup Language (XML) support for Open Information Model (OIM)-based meta data opens up new possibilities for publishing and sharing meta data. For example, you can build an application that creates XML and then let the repository engine manage it. You can also exchange meta data with other repositories and with other tools that use meta data. If you have two applications that understand the same XML format, you can exchange meta data between the two applications directly, without interacting with a repository database or the repository engine.

In Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 Meta Data Services, you can use XML Encoding to achieve the following benefits. You can compare each benefit to the diagram to see how XML is used between repositories and applications.

• You can export and import meta data between two  repository databases. The diagram shows that you can exchange meta data between Repository A and Repository B through XML documents.
  
  
• You can export meta data from a repository database to a tool or run-time object. In the diagram, you can provide data from Repository A to Application A through an XML document.
  
  
• You can import meta data from a tool or run-time object to a repository database. In the diagram, you can import meta data from Application A to Repository A through an XML document.
  
  
• XML Encoding supports a fourth benefit outside the scope of repository technology. OIM-enabled tools that support the same OIM models can exchange meta data directly, without the support of an underlying repository database. Although the diagram does not indicate this, you can exchange data between Application A and Application B (for example) using XML documents.

The following diagram shows the relationship and flow of XML from one repository to another, and subsequently to other applications.

See Also

Open Standards: OIM, COM, XML

Using XML Encoding