xml or database? xml or database?

i'm not sure which way to go

[IPfreely]

hello!

i've been storing webpage information in databases and building dynamic pages that way for years. it gave me an easy way to search for and retrieve data. now after studying the superb structuring capabilities of xml and having a decision to make soon (choosing into what format to convert all our existing policy documentation) i'm really not sure which way to go.

about a week or two ago i submitted a post asking how to store xml in a database which left me wondering - do i even need to put the data in a database?

do you guys put your xml into a database - and if so how do you search that data? or do you just have xml files on your server - and if so how do you search the data?
i'm really confused about this.

thanks for any insight you can provide,
IPfreely

[macrost]

ipfreely,
While you can store xml in a database, if you are running sql server, it can convert your data to xml if you wanted. That's a bit off the point however.

On one site, I am using xml files and by using asp I can search for filename.xml and check the lastmodified date of the file to see wether i need to rewrite the file or just leave it alone.

For other applications I just use a database, and use xml for sending data back and forth between applications.