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Most projects now need some form of a database. When someone says database, I usually think relational databases, but I still hear about flat file XML databases.
What parameters do you take into consideration when deciding between a “real” database and a flat-file XML database. When should one be used over the other, and under what circumstances should I never consider using a flat file (or vice versa a relational) database?
There is no such thing as a xml flat file database. Flat xml files are non-databases in that they have no higher functions like indices – have fun with larger datasets and searches or analytical queries without any index.
XML databases are another topic and may have their needs (content management, document storage in general – complicated schemata you dont care too much from the database point of view).
Flat files are fine for things like settings 8smaller files), but a real database is a real database. ACID conditions are hard to guarantee for flat files.