The XML Functionality embedded into SQL Server 2005 and 2008 is one of its most powerful yet least understood features. This seems to be primarily because DBA's shy away from it and developers prefer to work with XML in their code. In this session we will explore the XML features of SQL Server and how we can bridge these two worlds. Topics covered will include retrieving relational data as XML, storing XML in the database using the XML Datatype, XML indexes, and the XQuery functions included in SQL Server. We will also look at using XML as stored procedure parameters as a way to pass large amounts of complex data between client and server.