Who Is This Book Not For?

This book is not a tutorial or a reference on the structured query language (SQL) or Microsoft's SQL Server 2000 other than its XML capabilities. There are many technical books and online references on both SQL and SQL Server 2000. This book addresses a need not found in those sourcesthe generation of valid and well- formed XML documents in a variety of ways. In an effort to stay focused on this goal, this book is meant to augment rather than replace any of these materials.

If you're looking for a book that addresses XML document generation from any platform other than Microsoft's SQL Server 2000, then this book is not for you. Although the first two chapters address the general topics of XML, XML Stylesheet Transformations, XML schemas, and DTDs, which are applicable to all development platforms, this book specifically addresses the Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Database platform. This book assumes the use of Microsoft's Internet Explorer as the browser of choice.