Question

I am designing a db application using a novel approach. (atleast novel to me… 🙂 )

So I am doing some research for the same.

I am using .NET 3.5 ADO.NET Datasets to work with data and store it offline in XML.

First, is this approach any good for a serious (though a small db, 4-5 users, ~25 tables ~3-4k records in each) application?

Second, how do I exactly store a datarelation in an offline XML file?

Thanks!

Saurabh.

Answer 1

25 tables with 3-4k rows in each is not what I’d call ‘small’ for xml; in particular, it isn’t easy to jump to just the right data in xml…

Have you considered a database, such as SQL Server Express Edition. Free, and more than up to this job.

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Re storage; if you are using the inbuilt serialization a DataSet, this should just work automatically. Of course, the xml will then be specific to DataSet… I honestly don’t recommend the DataSet/xml approach.