What are XML Messages?

Hi,

I am having trouble getting my head round something, and was wondering if anyone could help me.

I am trying to connect a site to a database. The database is on a remote server, and i have spoken to the person who owns it, and he has suggested that i should send XML messages to it, and then recieve an XML response.

I don't understand what an XML message is. I know XML to be a mark up language for markup languages, but what is an XML message in this context?

Could anyone give me an answer, and a clue as to the contruct and format of an XML message, and how I might go about writing one.

Thankyou

Efti

You're going to need to get more information from whoever is running the database. XML is nothing more than a standardized way to markup text.

It may be possible that the database is running some sort of SOAP interface, which would let you send messages from your application (written in an XML dialect) and receive responses, but you're going to need to know exactly what server is running, on what port, and what language it speaks (how to format your queries).

Most (all?) popular network databases support other ways of connecting to them, though. JDBC, ODBC, different API calls. Depending on your language and the database itself, you should be able to establish a connection to a port on the database server and issue SQL commands directly. Talk to the admin.