Thanks to Rick Strahl's utility on West-Wind.com (wwXML) I've been able to see a cursor written to XML. It helps to have some nitty-gritty detail. I heartily recommend it.

I'm looking at implementing it for an import/export (exchange) process. My thinking is to take VFP data and format it as XML. Then, I could (?) create various proprietary formats, such as Excel, and non-proprietary, such as CSV.

Two considerations: the users will want to change what can be exchanged, and it should seemlessly integrate with the database so that the impact of changes is minimized.

The export/import involves related tables. I don't know if it is better to a) create a view that represents the data or relate the tables and scan through each from parent to child, so that I can build the XML hierarchy.

If you have any thoughts, I'd appreciate hearing them. Also, I'm drowning a bit in information, so have started to just dig in. Feel free to tell me RMFM < s>, but please point to which FM. :)

Thanks.