FOR XML EXPLICIT

Question

Say I have this setup:

-- tables
declare @main table (id int, name varchar(20))
declare @subA table (id int, mid int, name varchar(20))
declare @subA1 table (id int, subAid int, name varchar(20))
declare @subA2 table (id int, subAid int, name varchar(20))
declare @subB table (id int, mid int, name varchar(20))

-- sample data
insert @main values (1, 'A')
insert @main values (2, 'B')
insert @SubA values (1, 1, 'A')
insert @SubA values (2, 1, 'B')
insert @SubA values (3, 2, 'C')
insert @SubA1 values (1, 1, 'A')
insert @SubA2 values (1, 2, 'A')
insert @SubB values (1, 1, 'A')
insert @SubB values (2, 1, 'B')
insert @SubB values (3, 2, 'C')

-- results
select m.id, m.name, a.name, a1.name, a2.name, b.name
from @main m
left outer join @SubA a on m.id = a.mid
left outer join @SubA1 a1 on a.id = a1.subAid
left outer join @SubA2 a2 on a.id = a2.subAid
left outer join @SubB b on m.id = b.mid

This returns:

1   A   A   A   NULL    A
1   A   A   A   NULL    B
1   A   B   NULL    A   A
1   A   B   NULL    A   B
2   B   C   NULL    NULL    C

If I use "for xml auto" then I get:

<m id="1" name="A">
  <a name="A">
    <a1 name="A">
      <a2>
        <b name="A" />
        <b name="B" />
      </a2>
    </a1>
  </a>
  <a name="B">
    <a1>
      <a2 name="A">
        <b name="A" />
        <b name="B" />
      </a2>
    </a1>
  </a>
</m>
<m id="2" name="B">
  <a name="C">
    <a1>
      <a2>
        <b name="C" />
      </a2>
    </a1>
  </a>
</m>

However, this isn't what I need. What I want to show is that @main is the main table which has two children: @subA and @SubB. @SubA in turn also has two children: @SubA1 and @SubA2, so I would like to get back:

<m id="1" name="A">
  <a name="A">
    <a1 name="A"></a1>
    <a2></a2>    
  </a>
  <a name="B">
    <a1></a1>
    <a2 name="A"></a2>    
  </a>
  <b name="A" />
  <b name="B" />  
</m>
<m id="2" name="B">
  <a name="C">
    <a1></a1>
    <a2></a2>    
  </a>
  <b name="C" />  
</m>

I'm pretty sure that I will have to use "for xml explicit", but out of all the attempts I have tried so far I haven't been able to get the format that I need.

Can anyone show an example query that will return the data in the required format?

Thanks, Mark

Answer 1

You can also re-write query to control the xml output, Google nested FOR XML QUERY. Here is an example using FOR XML AUTO, you could probably get better control using this technique with FOR XML PATH.

-- tables
declare @main table (id int, name varchar(20))
declare @subA table (id int, mid int, name varchar(20))
declare @subA1 table (id int, subAid int, name varchar(20))
declare @subA2 table (id int, subAid int, name varchar(20))
declare @subB table (id int, mid int, name varchar(20))

-- sample data
insert @main values (1, 'm(1)')
insert @main values (2, 'm(2)')
insert @SubA values (1, 1, 'm(1)/a(1)')
insert @SubA values (2, 1, 'm(1)/a(2)')
insert @SubA values (3, 2, 'm(2)/a(3)')
insert @SubA1 values (1, 1, 'a(1)/a1(1)')
insert @SubA2 values (1, 1, 'a(1)/a2(1)')
insert @SubA2 values (2, 2, 'a(2)/a2(2)')
insert @SubB values (1, 1, 'm(1)/b(1)')
insert @SubB values (2, 1, 'm(1)/b(2)')
insert @SubB values (3, 2, 'm(2)/b(3)')

SELECT  m.id
       ,m.name
       ,( SELECT    [name]
                   ,( SELECT    [name]
                      FROM      @subA1 AS a1
                      WHERE     a1.subAid = a.id
                    FOR XML AUTO, TYPE
                    )
                   ,( SELECT    [name]
                      FROM      @subA2 AS a2
                      WHERE     a2.subAid = a.id
                    FOR XML AUTO, TYPE
                    )
          FROM      @SubA AS a
          WHERE     m.id = a.mid
        FOR XML AUTO, TYPE
        )
       ,( SELECT    [name]
          FROM      @SubB AS b
          WHERE     m.id = b.mid
        FOR XML AUTO, TYPE
        )
FROM    @main AS m
FOR XML AUTO

Returns:

<m id="1" name="m(1)">
  <a name="m(1)/a(1)">
    <a1 name="a(1)/a1(1)" />
    <a2 name="a(1)/a2(1)" />
  </a>
  <a name="m(1)/a(2)">
    <a2 name="a(2)/a2(2)" />
  </a>
  <b name="m(1)/b(1)" />
  <b name="m(1)/b(2)" />
</m>
<m id="2" name="m(2)">
  <a name="m(2)/a(3)" />
  <b name="m(2)/b(3)" />
</m>

Answer 2

Admittedly, this doesn't answer your question, but in general I've found the UNION approach with XML EXPLICIT a good approach, as the SQL is much clearer to read. An example is here:

http://jdixon.dotnetdevelopersjournal.com/sql_2000s_for_xml_explicit_vs_sql_2005s_for_xml_path.htm