Supporting XML messaging with SQL Server 2000

SQL Server’s new features support application integration through XML messages. The diagram above shows how SQL Server 2000 could support XML messaging in a hypothetical business-to-business application. The application accepts purchase orders from business partners over the Web. It consists of two major pieces: an Internet Information Services (IIS) Web server running the SQL Server 2000 middle-tier components, and a database server running SQL Server 2000 proper. In a typical transaction, a business partner sends an XML message with the purchase order to the Web server (1). The Web server translates the message into a call to a stored procedure in the database (2). The procedure uses SQL Server 2000’s XML functions to validate the purchase order and enter it into the database. The procedure then returns an XML result with details of the transaction, such as the receiver’s reference number for the order (3). The Web server wraps this result in an XML message that it returns as a response to the business partner (4).