Editing XML database (section)

== Rationale for XML as a database format ==
Reasons to store data in XML format as an XML database include:<ref name=nicola2010>{{cite web|last1=Nicola|first1=Matthias|title=5 Reasons for Storing XML in a Database|url=http://nativexmldatabase.com/2010/09/28/5-reasons-for-storing-xml-in-a-database/|website=Native XML Database|access-date=17 March 2015|date=28 September 2010}}</ref>
<ref name=feldman2013>{{cite conference|last1=Feldman|first1=Damon|title=Moving from Relational Modeling to XML and MarkLogic Data Models|url=http://www.marklogic.com/resources/slides-moving-from-relational-modeling-to-xml-and-marklogic-data-models/resource_download/presentations/|conference=MarkLogic World|conference-url=http://world.marklogic.com/|date=11 April 2013|access-date=17 March 2015}}</ref>
* An enterprise may have numerous XML documents with similar data, but dispersed in different XML formats. Conglomerating this data into a singular, standardized XML database structure will avoid compatibility issues
* Data may need to be exposed or ingested as XML, so using another format such as relational forces double-modeling of the data
* XML is very well suited to parse data, deeply nested data and mixed content (such as text with embedded markup tags)
* XML is human readable whereas relational tables require expertise to access
* [[Metadata]] is often available as XML
* Semantic web data is available as [[Resource Description Framework|RDF]]/XML
* Provides a solution for [[Object-relational impedance mismatch]]<ref>[NoSQL Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Emerging World of Polyglot Persistence. Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc, 2009] {{ISBN|978-0321826626}}</ref>

Steve O'Connell gives one reason for the use of XML in databases: the increasingly common use of XML for [[transport layer|data transport]], which has meant that "data is extracted from databases and put into XML documents and vice-versa".<ref name=oconnell2005>{{cite report|author=O'Connell, Steve|work=Advanced Databases Course Notes|title=Section 9.2|type=Syllabus|date=2005|publisher=[[University of Southampton]]|location=Southampton, England}}</ref>{{update inline|date=March 2015}} It may prove more efficient in terms of conversion costs,{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}} and easier to store the data in XML format.  In content-based applications, the ability of the native XML database also minimizes the need for extraction or entry of metadata to support searching and navigation.