Use a folder of xml files as data source for nhibernate

Question

I'm going to start writing NUnit tests for a few classes in my project. A certain number of these classes use data gathered through nhibernate from a sql server 2008 database.

The part of the program I'm about to test is very specific (and complicated). Therefore I have made a folder of xml files. Combined, the xml files could result in the database structure. I mean each xml file corresponds to a table in the database. The data in the xml files is also consistent with the database.

Is there a way to use this folder of xml files as data source for nhibernate? I mean: can I use nhibernate to gather my test data (wich I have specifically chosen) instead of data from the database? In this way, I could usefully test this component without corrrupting the (test) database for future tests.

Answer 1

The "R" in ORM stands for "Relational". NHibernate is designed to communicate with relational databases, not with XML files.

Instead, you should mock your DAO/Repository layer to read from XML files without using NHibernate.

Answer 2

I had a similar question here and found the answer (possibly) myself, since I have not tried it out.

Here is a very promising looking chapter of the hibernate docu: XML Mapping

So it IS possible to store relational data in xml. There are alsow ways to ensure referential integrity though elements in the xsd schema.

But:

XML Mapping is an experimental feature in Hibernate 3.0 and is currently under active development.