Create your stored procedure like this - use the FOR XML PATH(), ROOT() syntax to have SQL Server generate a proper XML for you:
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.procGetPlayerScore
AS BEGIN
SELECT DISTINCT TOP (10)
ID AS '@ID', -- creates an attribute on the <Player> node
Name, -- gets output as element inside <Player>
Score -- gets output as element inside <Player>
FROM
dbo.FB_Players
ORDER BY
Score DESC
FOR XML PATH('Player'), ROOT('AllPlayers')
END
In your C# code, you need something like this - connect to the database, execute the stored procedure, get back the single row, single column of that stored procedure (the XML produced):
// set up SQL Server connection and command to execute the stored procedure
using(SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection("server=.;database=test;Integrated Security=SSPI"))
using (SqlCommand cmdGetPlayers = new SqlCommand("dbo.procGetPlayerScore", conn))
{
// define that it's a stored procedure
cmdGetPlayers.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
// open connection, execute procedure, get resulting XML, close connection
conn.Open();
string playersXml = cmdGetPlayers.ExecuteScalar().ToString();
conn.Close();
}
As result, you'll get a XML something like this:
<AllPlayers>
<Player ID="4">
<Name>Player 4</Name>
<Score>72.1500</Score>
</Player>
<Player ID="1">
<Name>Player 1</Name>
<Score>50.5000</Score>
</Player>
......
</AllPlayers>
FOR XML PATHsp_prefix for your stored procedures. Microsoft has reserved that prefix for its own use (see Naming Stored Procedures), and you do run the risk of a name clash sometime in the future. It's also bad for your stored procedure performance. It's best to just simply avoidsp_and use something else as a prefix - or no prefix at all!