Create HTML Table with SQL FOR XML

Question

I\'m creating a HL7 Continuity of Care Document (CCD) using FOR XML statements in SQL Server 2008 R2.

I\'ve done A LOT with this method, but this is the first time I

Answer 1

This is a generic solution with a FUNCTION on XML-base using FLWOR

It will transform any SELECT into a XHTML table.

It works (tested) with 2008R2+, but I'm pretty sure this would work on 2008, might be even on 2005, too. If someone wants to verify this, please leave a comment. Thx

The following function replaces all the various functions I provided before (see the previous version if needed)

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.CreateHTMLTable
(
    @SelectForXmlPathRowElementsXsinil XML
   ,@tblClass VARCHAR(100) --NULL to omit this class
   ,@thClass VARCHAR(100)  --same
   ,@tbClass VARCHAR(100)  --same
)
RETURNS XML
AS
BEGIN

RETURN 
(
    SELECT @tblClass AS [@class]  
    ,@thClass AS [thead/@class]
    ,@SelectForXmlPathRowElementsXsinil.query(
              N'let $first:=/row[1]
                return 
                 
                {
                for $th in $first/*
                return {if(not(empty($th/@caption))) then xs:string($th/@caption) else local-name($th)}
                }
                ') AS thead
    ,@tbClass AS [tbody/@class]
    ,@SelectForXmlPathRowElementsXsinil.query(
               N'for $tr in /row
                 return 
                 {$tr/@class}
                 {
                 for $td in $tr/*
                 return
                 if(empty($td/@link)) 
                 then {$td/@class}{string($td)}
                 else {$td/@class}{string($td)}
                 }
                 ') AS tbody
    FOR XML PATH('table'),TYPE
) 
END
GO

The easiest call

A mock-up table with some values

DECLARE @tbl TABLE(ID INT, [Message] VARCHAR(100));
INSERT INTO @tbl VALUES
 (1,'Value 1')
,(2,'Value 2');

--The call must enclose the SELECT ... FOR XML in paranthesis!
--click run snippet to see the result!

SELECT dbo.CreateHTMLTable
(
     (SELECT * FROM @tbl FOR XML PATH('row'),ELEMENTS XSINIL)
     ,NULL,NULL,NULL
);

    

	  

		

		  
ID
		  
Message
		
	  
	  

		

		  
1
		  
Value 1
		
		

		  
2
		  
Value 2
		
	  
	

If you need headers with blanks

If your table contains a column with a blank in its name, or if you want to set a column's caption manually (multi langugage support!), or if you want to replace a CamelCaseName with an out-written caption, you can pass this as attribute:

DECLARE @tbl2 TABLE(ID INT, [With Blank] VARCHAR(100));
INSERT INTO @tbl2 VALUES
 (1,'Value 1')
,(2,'Value 2');

SELECT dbo.CreateHTMLTable
(
     (
     SELECT ID
           ,'The new name' AS [SomeOtherName/@caption] --set a caption 
           ,[With Blank] AS [SomeOtherName] 
     FROM @tbl2 FOR XML PATH('row'),ELEMENTS XSINIL
     )
     ,NULL,NULL,NULL
);

	

	  

		

		  
ID
		  
The new name
		
	  
	  

		

		  
1
		  
Value 1
		
		

		  
2
		  
Value 2
		
	  
	

Full CSS-support and hyper-links

You can use attributes to pass over a link or a row-based and even a value-based class to mark columns and even cells for CSS styling.

--a mock-up table with a row based condition and hyper-links

DECLARE @tbl3 TABLE(ID INT, [With blank] VARCHAR(100),Link VARCHAR(MAX),ShouldNotBeNull INT);
INSERT INTO @tbl3 VALUES
 (1,'NoWarning',NULL,1)
,(2,'No Warning too','http://www.Link2.com',2)
,(3,'Warning','http://www.Link3.com',3)
,(4,NULL,NULL,NULL)
,(5,'Warning',NULL,5)
,(6,'One more warning','http://www.Link6.com',6);
--The query adds an attribute Link to an element (NULL if not defined)
SELECT dbo.CreateHTMLTable
(
     (
     SELECT 
       CASE WHEN LEFT([With blank],2) != 'No' THEN 'warning' ELSE NULL END AS [@class]      --The first @class is the -class
      ,ID
      ,'center' AS [Dummy/@class]                                                    --a class within TestText (appeary always)
      ,Link AS [Dummy/@link]                                                         --a mark to pop up as link
      ,'New caption' AS [Dummy/@caption]                                             --a different caption
      ,[With blank] AS [Dummy]                                                       --blanks in the column's name must be tricked away...
      ,CASE WHEN ShouldNotBeNull IS NULL THEN 'MarkRed' END AS [ShouldNotBeNull/@class] --a class within ShouldNotBeNull (appears only if needed)
      ,'Should not be null' AS [ShouldNotBeNull/@caption]                             --a caption for a CamelCase-ColumnName
      ,ShouldNotBeNull
     FROM @tbl3 FOR XML PATH('row'),ELEMENTS XSINIL),'testTbl','testTh','testTb'
);

  

    

      
ID
      
New caption
      
Should not be null
    
  
  

    

      
1
      
NoWarning
      
1
    
    

      
2
      

        No Warning too
      
      
2
    
    

      
3
      

        Warning
      
      
3
    
    

      
4
      

      

    
    

      
5
      
Warning
      
5
    
    

      
6
      

        One more warning
      
      
6
    
  

As a possible enhancement one might pass in a one-row-footer with aggregated values as additional parameter and append it as