title: Saving xml string in xml or nvarchar the database
body: <p>I need to save a long XML string in SQL Server 2012.    </p>
  
  <p>Currently I hold in the <code>EDMX</code> and the database a string variable and a string column.<br>
  Problem is that my XML string can be very long (> 5000 characters)  </p>
  
  <p>What is the best practice to handle this variable (both in C# and in SQL Server)?  </p>
  
  <p>What are the benefits of using XML column? </p>