How to simplify XML Query? (SQL2000)

Hi, I am trying to write a query in SQL 2000 to produce a slightly more than
just basic xml schema. I can do the query using FOR XML EXPLICIT, but as the
schema that I want to produce is quite large (with a reasonable amount of
repitition) this seems unnecessarily complicated. A simplified version of the
schema I want to produce is:
<ArrayOfEntity>
<Entity Key=123>
<Name>...</Name>
<Prop1>...</Prop1>
<Prop2>...</Prop2>
<Prop3>...</Prop3>
<Node1 Key=32>text</Node1>
<Node2 Key=43>text</Node2>
<Node3 Key=54>text</Node3>
<Node4 Key=65>text</Node4>
</Entity>
<Entity Key=234>
...
</Entity>
</ArrayOfEntity>
The thing is, there are quite a few of these child "Node"s, which will only
contain a key and text value. There are also more complicated child nodes
(not shown here).
I was quite excited to find the [Element!Num!Attr!xml] explicit column name,
because I could then write a function to generate the child node. But this
does not seem to allow me to specify the Node Key's!! :(
Is there any way to write a reasonably simple query to get the above schema'
Thanks
GregHi Greg
You will need to use the FOR XML EXPLICIT option if you wish to retrieve the
data in this format. A different approach you be to apply a transform after
the data has been extracted. You could use XSLT to do this, possibly use the
document()
function to include and export the data in fragments.
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.xml/msg/24b2c92baf8fbde6?hl=en&
John
"Greg Bacchus" wrote:
> Hi, I am trying to write a query in SQL 2000 to produce a slightly more than
> just basic xml schema. I can do the query using FOR XML EXPLICIT, but as the
> schema that I want to produce is quite large (with a reasonable amount of
> repitition) this seems unnecessarily complicated. A simplified version of the
> schema I want to produce is:
> <ArrayOfEntity>
> <Entity Key=123>
> <Name>...</Name>
> <Prop1>...</Prop1>
> <Prop2>...</Prop2>
> <Prop3>...</Prop3>
> <Node1 Key=32>text</Node1>
> <Node2 Key=43>text</Node2>
> <Node3 Key=54>text</Node3>
> <Node4 Key=65>text</Node4>
> </Entity>
> <Entity Key=234>
> ...
> </Entity>
> </ArrayOfEntity>
> The thing is, there are quite a few of these child "Node"s, which will only
> contain a key and text value. There are also more complicated child nodes
> (not shown here).
> I was quite excited to find the [Element!Num!Attr!xml] explicit column name,
> because I could then write a function to generate the child node. But this
> does not seem to allow me to specify the Node Key's!! :(
> Is there any way to write a reasonably simple query to get the above schema'
> Thanks
> Greg|||Thanks for your reply John.
Can you do XSL Transforms in SQL 2000?
Greg
"John Bell" wrote:
> Hi Greg
> You will need to use the FOR XML EXPLICIT option if you wish to retrieve the
> data in this format. A different approach you be to apply a transform after
> the data has been extracted. You could use XSLT to do this, possibly use the
> document()
> function to include and export the data in fragments.
> http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.xml/msg/24b2c92baf8fbde6?hl=en&
> John
> "Greg Bacchus" wrote:
> > Hi, I am trying to write a query in SQL 2000 to produce a slightly more than
> > just basic xml schema. I can do the query using FOR XML EXPLICIT, but as the
> > schema that I want to produce is quite large (with a reasonable amount of
> > repitition) this seems unnecessarily complicated. A simplified version of the
> > schema I want to produce is:
> >
> > <ArrayOfEntity>
> > <Entity Key=123>
> > <Name>...</Name>
> > <Prop1>...</Prop1>
> > <Prop2>...</Prop2>
> > <Prop3>...</Prop3>
> > <Node1 Key=32>text</Node1>
> > <Node2 Key=43>text</Node2>
> > <Node3 Key=54>text</Node3>
> > <Node4 Key=65>text</Node4>
> > </Entity>
> > <Entity Key=234>
> > ...
> > </Entity>
> > </ArrayOfEntity>
> >
> > The thing is, there are quite a few of these child "Node"s, which will only
> > contain a key and text value. There are also more complicated child nodes
> > (not shown here).
> >
> > I was quite excited to find the [Element!Num!Attr!xml] explicit column name,
> > because I could then write a function to generate the child node. But this
> > does not seem to allow me to specify the Node Key's!! :(
> >
> > Is there any way to write a reasonably simple query to get the above schema'
> > Thanks
> > Greg|||Hi Greg
It should be possible to do this using the SP_OA... procedures but really I
would expect it to be done externally.
You may want to look at SQL2005 as this could all be done a lot easier using
.NET
John
"Greg Bacchus" wrote:
> Thanks for your reply John.
> Can you do XSL Transforms in SQL 2000?
> Greg
> "John Bell" wrote:
> > Hi Greg
> >
> > You will need to use the FOR XML EXPLICIT option if you wish to retrieve the
> > data in this format. A different approach you be to apply a transform after
> > the data has been extracted. You could use XSLT to do this, possibly use the
> > document()
> > function to include and export the data in fragments.
> >
> > http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.xml/msg/24b2c92baf8fbde6?hl=en&
> >
> > John
> >
> > "Greg Bacchus" wrote:
> >
> > > Hi, I am trying to write a query in SQL 2000 to produce a slightly more than
> > > just basic xml schema. I can do the query using FOR XML EXPLICIT, but as the
> > > schema that I want to produce is quite large (with a reasonable amount of
> > > repitition) this seems unnecessarily complicated. A simplified version of the
> > > schema I want to produce is:
> > >
> > > <ArrayOfEntity>
> > > <Entity Key=123>
> > > <Name>...</Name>
> > > <Prop1>...</Prop1>
> > > <Prop2>...</Prop2>
> > > <Prop3>...</Prop3>
> > > <Node1 Key=32>text</Node1>
> > > <Node2 Key=43>text</Node2>
> > > <Node3 Key=54>text</Node3>
> > > <Node4 Key=65>text</Node4>
> > > </Entity>
> > > <Entity Key=234>
> > > ...
> > > </Entity>
> > > </ArrayOfEntity>
> > >
> > > The thing is, there are quite a few of these child "Node"s, which will only
> > > contain a key and text value. There are also more complicated child nodes
> > > (not shown here).
> > >
> > > I was quite excited to find the [Element!Num!Attr!xml] explicit column name,
> > > because I could then write a function to generate the child node. But this
> > > does not seem to allow me to specify the Node Key's!! :(
> > >
> > > Is there any way to write a reasonably simple query to get the above schema'
> > > Thanks
> > > Greg