I've written an article about using REXML (Ruby Electric XML) with MySQL: http://www.rubyxml.com/articles/REXML/MySQL_and_REXML It introduces REXML, and shows a basic application creating XML documents from database tables. All questions, comments, and corrections are welcome. Big thanks go to Sean Russell for his work on REXML, and for pointing out errors in an early version of the article. James Britt