ASP/XML/ database .... Design Assistance

[meztec]

Here's what im trying to do:
(I want to see if anyone has advice/changes/or have done this before)

I have a cms system that is built on asp and an access database..to add/edit/delete articles. I would also like to create these articles as xml.
Currently i am inputing the data from a form into a database, and also creating a seperate xml file using FSO.


My design questions are should I, instead input all the data into the database as xml...then when retrieving the data transform it with xsl/asp?

Any other comments on this project .. has anybody done something similiar?

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One of the current problems is if if someone tags html into one of the fields for the input...that works fine with the database, but the resulting xml document also has these tags in it, but I want the xml document clean with no presentation tags.

[Snowbird122]

I would say that you should just store the data as xml in the database. There is no need in storing in two different places, and the database has several advantages over the file system.

1. With the database, you can use the full power of SQL to search and query the data.
2. The file system can be quite limiting when you have a lot xml files in there. Do you know how long it takes to open a directory that has 250 XML files? Performance suffers greatly as the number of files increases.

About the HTML, you will have to find a way to strip the html tags off and store just the content.

[goober]

XML in the database is most likely your best option.

There's a way to strip HTML tags, also. Quite easily, in fact, I think. I could search aroudn and hook you up with the link upon request.

Let me know if you need anything. 'Till next time..

[meztec]

Goober....
Thanks...I would be interested in learning about stripping html tags out of my data...If you could hook me up with any info, that would be great.

Plus, when you say save xml in the database do you mean save specific xml tags (e.g. <content>...</content>) in specific fields, or save the entire xml document as one field?

[dhtmlgod]

I've posted a HTML parser here, in the search box here, search for "handy dandy", it's got a whole bunch of functions, mainly mine, but I've rewrittne most of them all.

[goober]

There's your answer, meztec.

Thanks again, D. Helpful as always.

[Snowbird122]

When I say save the xml in the database, I mean save it as just plain text in your database.