How to convert records in a table to xml format using T-SQL?

Question

I\'ve got a simple table and want to store its content into a xml on the harddrive. There should be one root element for the whole table, one element per table row and one c

Answer 1

And if you need more control over how the resulting XML looks like, check out the new FOR XML PATH statement in SQL Server 2005 and newer.

A statement like this (based on the infamous Northwind database):

SELECT 
   CustomerID as "@CustomerID",
   CompanyName,
   Address as "address/street",
   City as "address/city",
   Region as "address/region",
   PostalCode as "address/zip",
   Country as "address/country",
   ContactName as "contact/name",
   ContactTitle as "contact/title",
   Phone as "contact/phone", 
   Fax as "contact/fax"
FROM Customers
FOR XML PATH('Customer')

will result in an output like this:

  
    Alfreds Futterkiste
    

      Obere Str. 57
      Berlin
      12209
      Germany
    
    
      Maria Anders
      
      030-0074321
      030-0076545
    
  

That's rather tricky to get any other way....

Marc