Smart Tags is a new technology delivered with Office XP that makes it easy for users to complete common tasks on familiar and relevant data regardless of the application they are using. Microsoft provides tools to make it easy to roll out simple Smart Tag applications using XML as a backbone. The Smart Tag SDK provides the detail needed to build a COM automation server for Smart Tags in Visual Basic or Visual C++. This article brings the reader through the SDK to outline the process of building a Smart Tag DLL using the tag recognizer and the action provider to create customized user experiences. Paul Sanna

In the past, Web developers often used ActiveX controls if they wanted customized client-side functionality incorporated into their Web applications. Now, they can build objects supported by the Microsoft .NET Framework which are more compact, lightweight, secure, and seamlessly integrated. By hosting .NET Windows Forms controls in Internet Explorer, developers can realize many of their client-side Web development goals. This article adapts ActiveX concepts for use with Windows Forms, and builds a multifile upload application that demonstrates these techniques. Jay Allen

Using Microsoft technologies, you can insert, edit, query, and delete database entries using any e-mail client such as Hotmail, Outlook, Yahoo, or even WAP phone. While e-mail is certainly a powerful and widely used tool, it is usually not integrated with an application for performing any tasks other than sending reminders. The application scenario described here, an e-mail-based SQL update program, uses a simple data model; however, this solution will apply to any data model that you are working with. It will also eliminate the need for complex n-tier Internet applications and serves as a low maintenance solution for providing data access. Alok Mehta and Daniel Williams

Using XML for data access allows you to separate the data from the presentation, and promotes reuse, extensibility, and division of labor. XML also has a simplified data model, which promotes easier testing. This article presents and compares five data access approaches, using a variety of technologies including ASP and ADO, XSLT, and DirectXML. Once built, the solutions are compared on the basis of their speed and efficiency. Scott Howlett and Darryl Jennings

XML support in SQL Server lives up to the hype that's always surrounded XML. Using SQL Server 2000, you can send queries over HTTP, save XML records to the database, and retrieve records via XML. This article shows how you can take advantage of these features in SQL Server 2000 by building a database entry system that keeps track of sales and customer information. The sample app presented here uses updategrams to make the database updates. To accomplish this, the mapping and usage of updategrams is explained. In this example, BizTalk is used to illustrate the XML capabilities of SQL Server 2000. Christian Thilmany

New Stuff: Resources for Your Developer Toolbox Web Q&A: Navigation, Clickthroughs, Debugging, and More The XML Files: Object Graphs, XPath, String Comparisons, and More Data Points: Using the ADO.NET DataSet for Multitiered Apps Cutting Edge: Understanding Templates in ASP.NET Advanced Basics: Namespaces, Cursors, ADO.NET, Web Services, Inheritance, and More Bugslayer: Extending the Visual Studio .NET IDE Security Briefs: Managed Security Context in ASP.NET C++ Q&A: OpenDlg Fixes Preview Problems