Question

I have a row of excel data (i.e. several cells from an excel sheet) saved into a SQL Server table, in a column that is of datatype XML.

I need to update the value, in a particular cell, in this data saved in the XML column, with a new value that is stored in another column in the same table.
How do I do that?

I am not able to even select the cell propery using the XMLColumnName.Query() method in T-SQL of SQL Server 2005.

Pasting a sample table, with sample rows here, so you can experiment and let me know if you were able to figure this out! Thank you!!

-Shiva

    -- reference article for XML data manipulation 
-- http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms345117(v=sql.90).aspx#sql2k5xml_topic3

  -- create test table for xml data 
CREATE TABLE testdocs (pk INT PRIMARY KEY, xCol XML not null)

  -- insert 1 row of test data
insert into testdocs values(1,'<?mso-application progid="Excel.Sheet"?>
<Workbook xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" 
  xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" 
  xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" 
  xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" 
  xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
  <Worksheet ss:Name="TestSheet">
    <Table ss:ExpandedColumnCount="509" ss:ExpandedRowCount="1" ss:StyleID="s191">
      <Column ss:StyleID="s1" ss:AutoFitWidth="0" ss:Width="55" />
      <Column ss:StyleID="s2" ss:AutoFitWidth="0" ss:Width="55" />
      <Row>
        <Cell>
          <Data ss:Type="String">TestValue1</Data>
        </Cell>        
        <Cell>
          <Data ss:Type="String">TestValue2</Data>
        </Cell>
      </Row>
    </Table>
  </Worksheet>
</Workbook>')

  -- select records, and inspect the XML in SSMS
select * from testdocs

-- want to replace / update "TestValue2" in the XML for the 1s rows, to "New TestValue2"
-- location in XML hierarchy is as follows

    /Workbook/Worksheet/Table/Row/Cell/Data

-- how do i do that ?

Answer 1

You need to get the XML namespaces properly:

with xmlnamespaces (
    DEFAULT 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet'
    , 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' as o
    , 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel' as x
    , 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet' as ss
    , 'http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40' as html)
select xCol.value ('(/Workbook/Worksheet/Table/Row/Cell/Data)[1]','varchar(100)') as Data
from testdocs

Update:

with xmlnamespaces (
    DEFAULT 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet'
    , 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' as o
    , 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel' as x
    , 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet' as ss
    , 'http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40' as html)
update testdocs
set xCol.modify (' replace value of (/Workbook/Worksheet/Table/Row/Cell/Data/text())[1]
    with "ReplacedValue1"');

select  * from testdocs