XSLT Transformations Over Different Stores
The ADO.NET and the XML classes in the .NET Framework provide a unified programming model to access data. That data is represented as both XML data, which is text delimited by tags, and relational data, which is tables consisting of rows and columns. The XML in the .NET Framework reads XML data from any data stream into Document Object Model (DOM) node trees, where data can be accessed programmatically, while ADO.NET provides the means to access and manipulate relational data within a DataSet object.
The XML DOM provides access to data in XML documents and additional classes to read, write, and navigate in XML documents. These classes are supported in the System.Xml namespace, which also unifies the XML DOM with the data access services provided by ADO.NET. The XmlDataDocument, found in the System.Xml namespace, provides relational access to data. The XmlDataDocument maps XML to relational data in an ADO.NET DataSet. Any .NET-based application can use the classes in the System.Xml namespace to access and manipulate both XML documents and relational data in the DataDocument. This implementation supports n-tiered architectures for collecting and distributing data. For more information, see XML Integration with Relational Data and ADO.NET.