XML is now an established technology for the description and transportation of data, and has made a major impact on almost every aspect of software development. When Microsoft introduced the .NET Framework, they took advantage of XML wherever they could. No other technology is so tightly bound with .NET as XML, both at the developer level and underlying the whole framework.

This book aims to give the reader enough information to be able to use XML from within the .NET Framework in the most efficient manner possible. It will explain in detail the usage of all the XML-related .NET Framework library classes for the manipulation, validation, transformation, and serialization of XML data, using both C# and Visual Basic .NET. It also looks at how the developer can utilize the full power of XML within the .NET Framework, for example, with the new XML capabilities of ADO.NET and ASP.NET. As is demonstrated, the .NET Framework itself uses XML, in configuration files, meta data, and C#'s XML code documentation mechanism, for example.

This book is aimed at intermediate-level programmers who have started on their journey towards .NET development, and who want to see how to use XML within their applications to its best advantage. Basic knowledge of C# or Visual Basic .NET, XML, and XML related technologies (XSLT, XPath, and XML Schemas) is necessary.

This book covers:

Reading and writing XML
DOM navigation and XSL transformations of XML
Validating and serializing XML
MSXML vs System.Xml
ADO.NET and ASP.NET XML support
Web Services and SOAP
Remoting
XML code documentation