A Spry data set is fundamentally a JavaScript object. With a few lines of code in your web page, you can create this object and load data from a data source (such as an XML file, HTML file, or JSON file) into the object. The data set results in an array of data in the form of a standard table containing rows and columns. After you create a data set, you can specify how you want to display the data on a web page by using Spry regions.

Spry creates each kind of data set slightly differently. For example, when you create an XML data set, it’s important that you specify the correct XPath when creating the data set. When you create an HTML data set, you don’t use XPath, but rather an ID that identifies the HTML element that contains the data to extract. Regardless of the type of data set you create, Spry attributes and data references work the same way.

You can think of a data set as a virtual holding container whose structure is rows and columns. It exists as a JavaScript object whose information is only visible when you specify exactly how to display it on the web page. You can display all of the data in this holding container, or you might choose to display only selected pieces of it.