43

I have something like the following XML in a column of a table:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<container>
  <param name="paramA" value="valueA" />
  <param name="paramB" value="valueB" />
  ...
</container>

I am trying to get the valueB part out of the XML via TSQL

So far I am getting the right node, but now I can not figure out how to get the attribute.

select xmlCol.query('/container/param[@name="paramB"]') from LogTable

I figure I could just add /@value to the end, but then SQL tells me attributes have to be part of a node. I can find a lot of examples for selecting the child nodes attributes, but nothing on the sibling atributes (if that is the right term).

Any help would be appreciated.

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2 Answers 2

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78

Try using the .value function instead of .query:

SELECT 
  xmlCol.value('(/container/param[@name="paramB"]/@value)[1]', 'varchar(50)') 
FROM  
  LogTable

The XPath expression could potentially return a list of nodes, therefore you need to add a [1] to that potential list to tell SQL Server to use the first of those entries (and yes - that list is 1-based - not 0-based). As second parameter, you need to specify what type the value should be converted to - just guessing here.

Marc

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4 Comments

I have dynamic nodes in the field like <l> <r id="2" /> <r id="5" /> </l> By using the your give query I am able to read according to index. Means When I'll give index as a 1, it will display 2 and when i'll give index 2, it will display 5 but I requires both nodes. so would you please suggest me how to do it !
I am having trouble using this for a boolean. I tried using 'boolean' and 'System.Boolean' as second params and received an error. If i do varchar it returns all nulls. My xml line looks like: <Property Name="param" Value="True" Type="System.Boolean" />
@Zeb: SQL Server doesn't have a boolean type - it has BIT - or you might just need to read it as an INT and then process it further
what if , we are not sure about path of attribute in xml. but sure about xml tag.? means i have xml column but each xml is different and i am sure about my xml contains <ash> tags then how can we take the value of it..?
11

Depending on the the actual structure of your xml, it may be useful to put a view over it to make it easier to consume using 'regular' sql eg

CREATE VIEW vwLogTable
AS
SELECT
    c.p.value('@name', 'varchar(10)') name,
    c.p.value('@value', 'varchar(10)') value
FROM
    LogTable
    CROSS APPLY x.nodes('/container/param') c(p)
GO


-- now you can get all values for paramB as...
SELECT value FROM vwLogTable WHERE name = 'paramB'
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1 Comment

Why does xmlCol.value('(/container/param[@name="paramB"]/@value)[1]', 'varchar(50)') not work for me but just .value('@value', 'vharchar(50)') does work? Hmmmmm.

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