SQL Server 2008 provides several enhancements over SQL Server 2000 in terms of XML support and some enhancements over SQL Server 2005. While much of the backward-compatible XML-specific functionality from SQL Server 2000 is available in SQL Server 2008, most of it has been deprecated in favor of the new features and functionality. This section gives a broad overview of the major enhancements to XML support, which include the following items:
• New xml data type
• XML schema collections
• XML indexes
• FOR XML enhancements, including XPath support in the FOR XML PATH clause
• XQuery and XML DML support
• SQLCLR xml data type support
• Improvements to legacy XML functionality, including improvements to the sp_xml_preparedocument procedure
• HTTP Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) endpoints
• New xml data type
• XML schema collections
• XML indexes
• FOR XML enhancements, including XPath support in the FOR XML PATH clause
• XQuery and XML DML support
• SQLCLR xml data type support
• Improvements to legacy XML functionality, including improvements to the sp_xml_preparedocument procedure
• HTTP Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) endpoints