System and method for retrieving stored in the database store the XML data that is encapsulated as an object

摘要

A system and method are provided for modeling structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data all within a single instance of a user defined type (UDT) within a database store. In particular, the XML data model is extended to fields of a UDT. As a result, the properties of the XML data model-such as document order and document structure-can be preserved within instances of a UDT. Moreover, code representing object behavior (i.e., methods that can be invoked on an object in managed code) can be added to the UDT to operate on an XML field, as well as non-XML fields of the UDT. This enables a framework for adding business logic to XML data. The content model of the XML data can be optionally described using XML schema documents associated with the XML fields of the UDT.