XML Literals As Database

Deploying the database has bedeviled development.

Data store and Engine are both issues. MSDE and SQL Express both represented attempts at getting an engine and data store on the machine. They worked well but presence of other applications using MSDE or SQL Express could complicate the deployment.

Standalone XML files, which is common for configuration, is a viable way to solve deploying the data store. Dot Net Framework embraced this common problem and a common solution now involves shipping an XML file to server as the initial data store.

With the XML Literals now part of VB.NET a better solution is possible. And the defect of using a separate language may even serve a purpose. On the one hand the XML literals are nothing more than the equivalent of the standalone files. But since they will be compiled into the executable and this will both create and hide access components the result will be faster and more reliable.

As to the language issue, this feature is only available in VB.Net. So to use this strategy from C# you would need to have a separate executable to house the VB.Net assembly dedicated to the XML Literal. But you could look at this defect as a feature in that it would encourage the separation of concerns.