Querying SQL Server xml column with user provided XPath via Entity Framework

Question

I\'m having a really tough time figuring how to use an xml data column in SQL Server, specifically for use with Entity Framework.

Basically, one of our tables stores

Answer 1

You could do this in a stored procedure where you build your query dynamically.

SQL Fiddle

MS SQL Server 2008 Schema Setup:

create table YourTable
(
  ID int identity primary key,
  Name varchar(10) not null,
  XMLCol xml
);

go

insert into YourTable values
('Row 1', '1'),
('Row 2', '2'),
('Row 3', '3');

go

create procedure GetIt
  @XPath nvarchar(100)
as
begin
  declare @SQL nvarchar(max);

  set @SQL = N'
  select ID, Name
  from YourTable
  where XMLCol.exist('+quotename(@XPath, '''')+N') = 1';

  exec (@SQL);
end

Query 1:

exec GetIt N'*[text() = "2"]'

Results:

| ID |  NAME |
--------------
|  2 | Row 2 |