Wow--Create class objects directly from SQL Server
I've been planning to create the middle tier of a project I'm developing as an ASP .NET WebService. The goal of the webservice is to provide a strongly-typed set of class objects to the calling program in such a way that the calling program needs no knowledge of the underlying database. I got the idea from working with SQL Server Reporting Services. I still have a couple of technical challenges to face (which I look forward to), such as how to provide databinding support.
I've been reading Dino_Esposito's_book on XML Programming, and he talks quite a bit about de/serializing objects from XML. Separately, he discusses pulling XML documents and fragments directly from SQL Server using SQL Server's native XML support. The thought then occurred to me, “why can't I deserialize objects directly from xml queries to SQL Server? That would be awesome!” Apparently, Dino had the same thought. Way to go Dino! If you happen to read this, thanks a lot for the work you've done in this area. This is going to make a lot of things a lot simpler for me in the future!