Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 delivers features for accessing data stored in SQL Server databases and OLAP cubes through the Web. These features ensure that data is available through intuitive user interfaces and is fully searchable, even by novice users.
SQL Server 2000 enables access using a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) by several different mechanisms that are associated with an instance of SQL Server 2000. Among other actions, the URL can do the following:
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| Execute SQL queries directly |
URL queries have the form: http://server/vroot?sql="..." For URL queries, Internet applications can compose URL strings that reference a SQL Server 2000 virtual root and that contain a T-SQL statement. The T-SQL statement is sent to the instance of SQL Server 2000 associated with the virtual root, and the result is returned as a standard rowset. If the FOR XML clause is specified, an Extended Markup Language (XML) document is returned instead. Single row, single column queries are supported. |
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| Access database objects such as tables directly | Direct queries have the form: http://server/vroot/dbobject/xpath. For direct queries through Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), data is not returned as XML, enabling the direct retrieval of objects like images from the database. The XPath syntax required in this case treats tables and views as elements and columns as attributes. |
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| Execute template files | Template queries have the form: http://server/vroot/vname?params and directly reference a template file, which is a valid XML document consisting of one or more SQL statements. When a template file is specified at the URL, the SQL commands stored in the template file are executed. The queries are replaced with the results and the entire XML document is returned to the requestor. |
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| Execute XPath queries through an XML View | XPath queries of XML Views have the form: http://server/vroot/vname/xpath?params. XPath queries access specific data from relational tables through XML View (annotated schema) that maps XML to relational database tables. |
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For More Information:
SQL Server 2000 Web-Enabled Features
Read an interview with Jeff Ressler, product manager on the SQL Server team, focusing on the newest Web building blocks of SQL Server 2000 with which to build your e-commerce, Internet, and intranet solutions.
