Why would you ever use OPENXML instead of OPENROWSET (BULK ‘file’, SINGLE_BLOB) and cast to the xml data type?
Why would you ever use OPENXML instead of OPENROWSET (BULK ‘file’, SINGLE_BLOB) and cast
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Why would you ever use OPENXML instead of OPENROWSET (BULK ‘file’, SINGLE_BLOB) and cast to the xml data type?
I think those are quite different things you’re comparing here:
OPENROWSET just simply imports a file on disk as a single blob – this works great if you do need that file content as a single big chunk of information – if you want to store the entire file contents as a single XML field
OPENXML is very different – it will open and interpret the XML file and will turn it into a rowset – it will give you rows and columns of data, based off that source XML file, and you can then store that information in a table – in rows and columns. You’re not getting the XML as a single big chunk, but it’s been “shredded” into rows and columns for you
So it really depends on what your needs are – if you need the XML as a big chunk and store it that was – use OPENROWSET.
If you need the data represented in the XML as columns and rows, use OPENXML (or alternatively: use the OPENROWSET first to import the XML as a whole, and then use the XQuery functions in SQL Server 2005 and up to shred it once you’ve loaded it)