Our VB programmers are re-writing some of our systems in .net. They have
asked me if they can send me an xml representation of the data. This looks
like a good idea to me too.

I have seen that I can parse this using sp_xml_preparedocuement. I can work
out what is to be inserted, updated or deleted. The documents will be quite
large and complex.

Before I commit to the new design could some one explain to me exactly what
256 limit means? I'm an xml noob.

Thanks
Paul