I had a new table to add to a sql server database. The table was already pre-defined in a dataset schema in vs.net. I thought”wouldn’t it be nice to create a table from an xsd as easily as I can create an xsd from a table?“

I could have created the table by hand in 2 minutes.

But instead I went over the XMLSpy website to see if they had that feature and it looks like they do. So I installed XML Spy Enterprise 2004 from my demo cd. I went to register for the 30 day trial and got a message that said it was an outdated version and I needed to download a new one. So I downloaded XMLSpy Professional latest version and isntalled that. Then I downloaded the software that integrates it with VS.NET. Then I waited while the help file updated. So now it has been over an hour. And let’s see how much longer it will take me to figure out how to do that task in XML Spy so I can save myself 2 minutes. Isn’t this typical for all of us, though?

Update: 10 minutes. That was only because there were multiple tables in the dataset with relationships and I had to do it over again so that I could get just the one table I wanted. Very nice and easy. Of course this is about  .05% of XML Spy and the entire product is a bit overkill for just that but now that I finally have it installed, I will surely begin playing with its new features. This particular feature is not in the free XML Spy Home Version. The feature-rich Pro version is $500, which I would be hard pressed to buy unless I couldn’t live without it. I did pay $300 just for one XCeed component – the .NET Stream Compression tool. So it’s not that I’m cheap or unwilling. Although it did kind of kill me to recieve a few free licenses to raffle to my user group 4 months later.

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