Question

I am selecting from a table that has an XML column using T-SQL. I would like to select a certain type of node and have a row created for each one.

For instance, suppose I am selecting from a people table. This table has an XML column for addresses. The XML is formated similar to the following:

<address>   <street>Street 1</street>   <city>City 1</city>   <state>State 1</state>   <zipcode>Zip Code 1</zipcode> </address> <address>   <street>Street 2</street>   <city>City 2</city>   <state>State 2</state>   <zipcode>Zip Code 2</zipcode> </address> 

How can I get results like this:

Name         City         State

Joe Baker   Seattle      WA

Joe Baker   Tacoma     WA

Fred Jones  Vancouver BC

Answer 1

Here is your solution:

/* TEST TABLE */ DECLARE @PEOPLE AS TABLE ([Name] VARCHAR(20),  [Address] XML ) INSERT INTO @PEOPLE SELECT      'Joel',      '<address>       <street>Street 1</street>       <city>City 1</city>       <state>State 1</state>       <zipcode>Zip Code 1</zipcode>     </address>     <address>       <street>Street 2</street>       <city>City 2</city>       <state>State 2</state>       <zipcode>Zip Code 2</zipcode>     </address>' UNION ALL SELECT     'Kim',      '<address>       <street>Street 3</street>       <city>City 3</city>       <state>State 3</state>       <zipcode>Zip Code 3</zipcode>     </address>'  SELECT * FROM @PEOPLE  -- BUILD XML DECLARE @x XML SELECT @x =  ( SELECT        [Name]     , [Address].query('             for $a in //address             return <address                  street='{$a/street}'                  city='{$a/city}'                  state='{$a/state}'                  zipcode='{$a/zipcode}'              />         ')    FROM @PEOPLE AS people    FOR XML AUTO )   -- RESULTS SELECT [Name]    = T.Item.value('../@Name', 'varchar(20)'),        street    = T.Item.value('@street' , 'varchar(20)'),        city      = T.Item.value('@city'   , 'varchar(20)'),        state     = T.Item.value('@state'  , 'varchar(20)'),        zipcode   = T.Item.value('@zipcode', 'varchar(20)') FROM   @x.nodes('//people/address') AS T(Item)  /* OUTPUT*/  Name | street   | city   | state   | zipcode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Joel | Street 1 | City 1 | State 1 | Zip Code 1 Joel | Street 2 | City 2 | State 2 | Zip Code 2 Kim  | Street 3 | City 3 | State 3 | Zip Code 3