The concat function takes multiple arguments that are separated by commas. Each argument is the value you want to concatenate. Notice that the first and third arguments use the same path construction as the previous example. Whenever you refer to an element, you must use the complete path. For information about the concat function and all of the XQuery functions, see Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Books Online.
The XML query() method
Although the value() method is handy for retrieving a single value from an XML column, you'll often want to retrieve multiple values. In these cases, you should use the XML query() method. The query() method takes only one argument and returns the specified elements as XML. For example, the following SQL statement returns the Education elements and their child nodes for each job candidate:
SELECT JobCandidateID, Resume.value('declare namespace ns=
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/adventure-works/Resume";
concat((/ns:Resume/ns:Name/ns:Name.First)[1], " ",
(/ns:Resume/ns:Name/ns:Name.Last)[1])',
'nvarchar(60)') AS FullName,
Resume.query('declare namespace ns=
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/adventure-works/Resume";
/ns:Resume/ns:Education') AS Education
FROM HumanResources.JobCandidate
The query() method's argument is enclosed in single quotes and separated into two parts. Again, you must identify a namespace when retrieving data from a typed column. You declare the namespace in the same way you declared it for the value() method. After you declare the namespace, specify which elements to retrieve. In this case, the Education elements and all their child nodes are returned, as shown in Figure 2.
[IMAGE]
Figure 2: Once the namespace is declared, specify which XML elements to retrieve. (Click on image for enlarged view.)
You can achieve the same results by casting the second part of the argument as a FLWOR (pronounced flower) expression, which, by definition, is made up of "for, let, where, order by, and return" clauses. Note, however, that SQL Server currently does not support the let clause.
The XML query() method in the following example uses the "for" and "return" clauses to retrieve the Education elements and their child nodes:
SELECT JobCandidateID, Resume.value('declare namespace ns=
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/adventure-works/Resume";
concat((/ns:Resume/ns:Name/ns:Name.First)[1], " ",
(/ns:Resume/ns:Name/ns:Name.Last)[1])',
'nvarchar(60)') AS FullName,
Resume.query('declare namespace ns=
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/adventure-works/Resume";
for $ed in /ns:Resume/ns:Education
return $ed')AS Education
FROM HumanResources.JobCandidate
As you can see, the FOR clause includes the $ed variable. You do not have to explicitly declare this variable. Using it in the FOR clause is enough. The variable is used to iterate through the Education elements. (You can use any name for the variable, as long as you follow SQL Server naming conventions.) The RETURN clause then references the $ed variable. As a result, it returns each Education element and its child nodes.
Of course, there's no reason to use a FLWER expression simply to retrieve an element and its child nodes. However, you can include an expression in the path name of your FOR clause (in brackets) that limits the results returned. For example, the following statement limits the results to those Education elements that contain an Edu.Level value of "Bachelor":
SELECT JobCandidateID, Resume.value('declare namespace ns=
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/adventure-works/Resume";
concat((/ns:Resume/ns:Name/ns:Name.First)[1], " ",
(/ns:Resume/ns:Name/ns:Name.Last)[1])',
'nvarchar(60)') AS FullName,
Resume.query('declare namespace ns=
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/adventure-works/Resume";
for $ed in /ns:Resume/ns:Education[ns:Edu.Level="Bachelor"]
return $ed') AS Education
FROM HumanResources.JobCandidate
Notice I use an equal comparison operator (=) to compare the Edu.Level element value to the string value. This forms a Boolean expression that must evaluate to true in order for the element to be included in the results. XQuery supports a variety of operators for creating Boolean expressions. You can view the supported operators in Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Books online.
Rather than specify a Boolean expression in the FOR clause, you can define the same logic in a WHERE clause, as in the following example:
SELECT JobCandidateID, Resume.value('declare namespace ns=
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/adventure-works/Resume";
concat((/ns:Resume/ns:Name/ns:Name.First)[1], " ",
(/ns:Resume/ns:Name/ns:Name.Last)[1])',
'nvarchar(60)') AS FullName,
Resume.query('declare namespace ns=
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/adventure-works/Resume";
for $ed in /ns:Resume/ns:Education
where $ed/ns:Edu.Level="Bachelor"
return $ed') AS Education
FROM HumanResources.JobCandidate
In this case, the FOR clause includes only a simple path, and the WHERE clause includes the Boolean logic. Notice that the path name uses the $ed variable to point to the correct Education element that the FOR clause is iterating through.
Putting this logic in the WHERE clause makes it easier to read and write your code, particularly if you use complex Boolean expressions. For example, the next statement uses the "and" logical operator in the WHERE clause to limit the results to business majors with bachelor's degrees:
SELECT JobCandidateID, Resume.value('declare namespace ns=
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/adventure-works/Resume";
concat((/ns:Resume/ns:Name/ns:Name.First)[1], " ",
(/ns:Resume/ns:Name/ns:Name.Last)[1])',
'nvarchar(60)') AS FullName,
Resume.query(('declare namespace ns=
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/adventure-works/Resume";
for $ed in /ns:Resume/ns:Education
where $ed/ns:Edu.Level="Bachelor" and $ed/ns:Edu.Major="Business"
return $ed') AS Education
FROM HumanResources.JobCandidate
The two path names are joined together with the "and" operator. As a result, both conditions must evaluate to true in order for the Education element to be returned.
Now let's look at an example that includes an ORDER BY clause. The following statement retrieves employment information related to technology and production:
SELECT JobCandidateID, Resume.value('declare namespace ns=
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/adventure-works/Resume";
concat((/ns:Resume/ns:Name/ns:Name.First)[1], " ",
(/ns:Resume/ns:Name/ns:Name.Last)[1])',
'nvarchar(60)') AS FullName,
Resume.query('declare namespace ns=
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/adventure-works/Resume";
for $emp in /ns:Resume/ns:Employment
where $emp/ns:Emp.FunctionCategory = "Production" or
$emp/ns:Emp.FunctionCategory = "Technology"
order by $emp/ns:Emp.EndDate descending
return $emp') AS Employment
FROM HumanResources.JobCandidate
As in the preceding examples, the statement uses a FOR clause to identify the desired elements (in this case, Employment) and the WHERE clause to limit the results. Notice, however, that the statement also includes an ORDER BY clause. You can use this clause to sort your results based on a specified node. In this case, I'm sorting the results based on the Emp.EndDate element, and I'm sorting the information in descending order. Accordingly, the most recent employment information will appear at the top of the list.
As you can see, the value() and query() methods can be quite useful when retrieving XML data. However, what I've shown you here only scratches the surface. XQuery is a powerful language that allows you to write complex queries that return XML data in exactly the way you need that data to return. Because of the rich variety of functions, operators and expressions supported by XQuery, you can retrieve just about any element and attribute stored in your XML columns, variables and parameters – in just about any format necessary. Again, be sure to refer to SQL Server 2005 Books Online for additional information about XQuery and for more examples that demonstrate how it works.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
[IMAGE]Robert Sheldon is a technical consultant and the author of numerous books, articles and training material related to Microsoft Windows, various relational database management systems (including SQL Server), and business intelligence design and implementation. He is also the author of the novel Dancing the River Lightly. You can find more information at www.rhsheldon.com.
