Supporting XML Messaging with SQL Server 2000

SQL Server’s new features support application integration through XML messages. The diagram below shows how SQL Server 2000 could support XML messaging in a hypothetical business-to-business (B2B) Web service. The service 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 2000 Web component and MDAC 2.6, and a database server running SQL 2000 proper. In a typical transaction, a business partner sends an XML message with the purchase order to the Web server (1). The SQL Web component and MDAC translate the message into a call to a stored procedure in the database (2). The stored procedure uses SQL 2000’s new XML manipulation constructs to validate the purchase order and enter it into the database. The procedure then uses SQL 2000’s XML generation constructs to return an XML document with details of the transaction, such as the receiver’s reference number for the order (3). The Web component and MDAC wrap this result in an XML message that it returns as a response to the business partner (4).