It is not that hard to learn, you just need to understand what it does - whereas html (and to an extent) cfml is used to display information and format it for the end user, XML is all about describing information. It is a well formed language used to structure and describe data. It's real power is its ability to separate the user interface from the data. A real key to its use is that it is also-self describing (borrowed from OO programming) - what this means is that each XML document holds a set of rules (or classes) to which its data must conform. Currently the main use for XML and CF is within Spectra, whereby you can create "objects" that can be reused. Also WDDX is (sort of) based around XML too. Many people confuse html and xml in that the latter will replace the former, the truth is that the two languages are more likely to complement each other as they operate at different levels with how they treat data. At the end of the day you will more than likely always use html or xhtml to format data and xml to store and describe the data structure. Advantages of using XML within coldfusion are currently sort of equal with writing reusable snippets and custom tags - as at the end of the day xml classes can be shared between documents too. What it boils down to is this: use the right tool for the job - CF if fine for what it does, XML is fine for what it does - if you have a project that requires unique structure templates (such as a "publishing system") go for XML, if not you don't really need to touch it. James -----Original Message----- From: Phoeun Pha [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 13 March 2001 21:21 To: CF-Talk Subject: XML what are the advantages of using XML with my coldfusion web apps? like what cool stuff can I do? and is XML hard to learn? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/cf-talk@houseoffusion.com/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
