XML is a standardized way to pass data. It's simply a text file with special characters to denote where records and fields begin and end. You can define a schema (think table structure) that defines the data type, length, and other attributes of each field in the data. The schema can either be part of the actual data file or a separate file. XML is not a web-only thing, but is frequently used there because the data is sent as text rather than binary.

>I don't really get all this XML stuff, and somehow, it has left me feeling kind left behind. I have never used it, and maybe I don't need it. I have one case where I am tempted to think I could, so let's see...
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>First off, my app is only running as an EXE right here on our lcoal LAN. So, no http stuff is going on (I guess that is the purpose of XML?)
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>So I have a case in a Parent-Child form where I let the user go to a parent record, and copy all the child records to a temp cursor (via SQL call with READWRITE), then they can go to another parent record in the same instance of the form, and they can paste the "buffered" child records as child records for the current parent. Upon pasting, I change the foreign key to point to the current parent. This provides a copy-paste like feature.
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>Notice that above I said "SAME INSTANCE". All my forms can run multiple instances and each intsance uses a Private DataSession. This lets each instance have its own buffered records cursor. Now, I'd like to have only one buffered record set that can be used *between* form instances, so that you could copy in one instance, and paste into another intance.
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>So, I could (1) write the cursor to a table, or (2) create public/global collection of objects (too complicated), or maybe (3) use this fancy XML stuff just to say I use XML.
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>So, is this new structure a good use of XML, or should I just stick to using tables? What would I gain with XML?