INFO: Roadmap for XML in the .NET Framework

This article provides a roadmap to learn about programming in the Microsoft .NET Framework with core Extensible Markup Language (XML) base classes. This article assumes that you are familiar with XML standards, the .NET Framework architecture, and basic .NET application development.

Roadmap articles provide links to useful information, including online documentation, Microsoft Knowledge Base articles, and Microsoft white papers, to help you learn about a Microsoft product or technology.

For additional information about ADO.NET technology roadmap articles, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Overview

The .NET Framework provides a comprehensive and integrated set of classes that implement the following:

• Standards-based XML parsers.
• Support for the frequently used current XML standards:
  • Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT)
  • XML Path Language (XPath)
  • XML Schema
  
  
• XML Serialization interfaces.
• An integration mechanism to relate hierarchical and relational data.

With these classes, you can work with XML documents and data in .NET applications. The System.Xml namespace is the parent namespace for the core .NET Framework XML classes.

Visual Studio .NET Help Topics, WebCasts, White Papers, and QuickStart Tutorials

Visual Studio .NET Help Topics

For an overview of XML in the .NET Framework, see the following topics in the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Help documentation:

• Visual Studio .NET
• .NET Framework
• Programming with the .NET Framework (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpconprogrammingwithnetframework.asp)
• Employing XML in the .NET Framework (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpconemployingxmlinnetframework.asp)
• Architectural Overview of XML in the .NET Framework (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpconarchitecturaloverviewofxmlinnetframework.asp)
• Design Goals for XML in the .NET Framework (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpcondesigngoalsforxmlframeworkinnet.asp)
• Architecture Summary of XML in .NET Framework (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpconarchitecturesummaryofxmlinnetframework.asp)

Microsoft WebCasts

For an overview of the role of XML in the .NET Framework, see the following Microsoft WebCast: For an introduction to programming the core XML classes in the .NET Framework, see the following two-part WebCast series:

Microsoft White Papers

For an overview of the core .NET Framework XML classes, see the following Microsoft white paper:

Microsoft QuickStart Tutorials

For more information about common tasks that are related to programming XML in the .NET Framework, see the following Microsoft QuickStart tutorial:

Microsoft Knowledge Base Articles

This section includes references to other Microsoft Roadmap articles that address topics that are related to the core features of XML in the .NET Framework.

Pull-Model XML Parsing

The .NET Framework implements a fast, non-cached, forward-only, read-only pull-model XML parser. For additional information about programming the .NET Framework classes that implement this parser, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

DOM Parsing

For additional information about programming the classes that implement the XML Document Object Model (DOM) in the .NET Framework, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

XML Schemas

For additional information about validating XML documents in .NET applications and about programming the classes in the System.Xml.Schema namespace that constitute the .NET Framework Schema Object Model (SOM) for the W3C XML Schema standard, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

XPath

For additional information about programming the classes in the System.Xml.XPath namespace to execute XPath queries against XML data in .NET applications, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

ADO.NET and XML

For additional information about ADO.NET XML integration features in the .NET Framework, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: The following WebCast uses a scenario-driven approach to illustrate how you can use the ADO.NET XML integration features to address some real world application development challenges:

XSLT

For additional information about programming the classes in the System.Xml.Xsl namespace to execute XSLT transformations in .NET applications, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Serialization

For additional information about programming the classes in the System.Xml.Serialization namespace to serialize and to de-serialize .NET Framework objects to and from XML, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Other Topics of Interest

Troubleshooting

If you experience problems or if you have questions, you can refer to the MSDN newsgroups where you can share your experiences with your peers. You can also use the Microsoft Knowledge Base where you can search for articles about specific issues.