>Hi Ken,
>
>I have been toying with the idea of using XML as a format for data transfer and stumbled across something I didn't expect. A test DBF I used is 873 KB. I then used the wwxml class from WestWind to convert it to XML and the XML file was 1.58 Meg, almost double.
>
>Am I missing something? If not, what pros of XML could overshadow this con?
>
>>Is anyone using XML for any specific application solution? How did it help and were the pros and cons? I'd also like to know how people think XML will help in their application development and architecture based on what the know or plan to use XML.

You're right. XML is bloaty because of its very nature: there are start and end tags for every single element.

But I don't see this as a con considering the practical uses of XML. It is not primarily designed to be a storage format, but a transport format.

When would you want to transport an entire table to the client? This bloat is not a big factor if your app is being designed with basic client server principals in mind: only send what you need.