SQL SERVER – Create and read XML File Using T-SQL

   
The below example shows you how to create XML using SQL Server.

Creating XML:

T-SQL Script to generate above XML:

SELECT ( SELECT 'White' AS Color1,
'Blue' AS Color2,
'Black' AS Color3,
'Light' AS 'Color4/@Special',
'Green' AS Color4,
'Red' AS Color5
FOR
XML PATH('Colors'),
TYPE
),
( SELECT 'Apple' AS Fruits1,
'Pineapple' AS Fruits2,
'Grapes' AS Fruits3,
'Melon' AS Fruits4
FOR
XML PATH('Fruits'),
TYPE
)
FOR XML PATH(''),
ROOT('SampleXML')
GO

Every XML has two elements.

1) Attributes 

2) Value

Output:

In my above example color4 has attribute along with value. Make sure to specify attribute before the value is defined otherwise it will give error.

Reading XML:


Here we will see how we can read the XML file using the SELECT statement.

DECLARE @MyXML XML

SET @MyXML = '<SampleXML>
<Colors>
<Color1>White</Color1>
<Color2>Blue</Color2>
<Color3>Black</Color3>
<Color4 Special="Light">Green</Color4>
<Color5>Red</Color5>
</Colors>
<Fruits>
<Fruits1>Apple</Fruits1>
<Fruits2>Pineapple</Fruits2>
<Fruits3>Grapes</Fruits3>
<Fruits4>Melon</Fruits4>
</Fruits>
</SampleXML>'

SELECT
a.b.value(‘Colors[1]/Color1[1]‘,‘varchar(10)’) AS Color1,
a.b.value(‘Colors[1]/Color2[1]‘,‘varchar(10)’) AS Color2,
a.b.value(‘Colors[1]/Color3[1]‘,‘varchar(10)’) AS Color3,
a.b.value(‘Colors[1]/Color4[1]/@Special’,‘varchar(10)’)+‘ ’+
+a.b.value(‘Colors[1]/Color4[1]‘,‘varchar(10)’) AS Color4,
a.b.value(‘Colors[1]/Color5[1]‘,‘varchar(10)’) AS Color5,
a.b.value(‘Fruits[1]/Fruits1[1]‘,‘varchar(10)’) AS Fruits1,
a.b.value(‘Fruits[1]/Fruits2[1]‘,‘varchar(10)’) AS Fruits2,
a.b.value(‘Fruits[1]/Fruits3[1]‘,‘varchar(10)’) AS Fruits3,
a.b.value(‘Fruits[1]/Fruits4[1]‘,‘varchar(10)’) AS Fruits4
FROM @MyXML.nodes(‘SampleXML’) a(b) 

 

Output: