Example: Constructing Siblings with EXPLICIT Mode

Assume that you want to construct XML that provides sales order information. Note that <SalesPerson> and <OrderDetail> elements are siblings. Each Order has one <OrderHeader> element, one <SalesPerson> element, and one or more <OrderDetail> elements.

<OrderHeader SalesOrderID=... OrderDate=... CustomerID=... >
  <SalesPerson SalesPersonID=... />
  <OrderDetail SalesOrderID=... LineTotal=... ProductID=... OrderQty=... />
  <OrderDetail SalesOrderID=... LineTotal=... ProductID=... OrderQty=.../>
      ...
</OrderHeader>
<OrderHeader ...</OrderHeader>

The following EXPLICIT mode query constructs this XML. Note that the query specifies Tag values of 1 for the <OrderHeader> element, 2 for the <SalesPerson> element, and 3 for the <OrderDetail> element. Because <SalesPerson> and <OrderDetail> are siblings, the query specifies the same Parent tag value of 1 identifying the <OrderHeader> element.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
SELECT  1 as Tag,
        0 as Parent,
        SalesOrderID  as [OrderHeader!1!SalesOrderID],
        OrderDate     as [OrderHeader!1!OrderDate],
        CustomerID    as [OrderHeader!1!CustomerID],
        NULL          as [SalesPerson!2!SalesPersonID],
        NULL          as [OrderDetail!3!SalesOrderID],
        NULL          as [OrderDetail!3!LineTotal],
        NULL          as [OrderDetail!3!ProductID],
        NULL          as [OrderDetail!3!OrderQty]
FROM   Sales.SalesOrderHeader
WHERE     SalesOrderID=43659 or SalesOrderID=43661
UNION ALL 
SELECT 2 as Tag,
       1 as Parent,
        SalesOrderID,
        NULL,
        NULL,
        SalesPersonID,  
        NULL,         
        NULL,         
        NULL,
        NULL         
FROM   Sales.SalesOrderHeader
WHERE     SalesOrderID=43659 or SalesOrderID=43661
UNION ALL
SELECT 3 as Tag,
       1 as Parent,
        SOD.SalesOrderID,
        NULL,
        NULL,
        SalesPersonID,
        SOH.SalesOrderID,
        LineTotal,
        ProductID,
        OrderQty   
FROM    Sales.SalesOrderHeader SOH,Sales.SalesOrderDetail SOD
WHERE   SOH.SalesOrderID = SOD.SalesOrderID
AND     (SOH.SalesOrderID=43659 or SOH.SalesOrderID=43661)
ORDER BY [OrderHeader!1!SalesOrderID], [SalesPerson!2!SalesPersonID],
         [OrderDetail!3!SalesOrderID],[OrderDetail!3!LineTotal]
FOR XML EXPLICIT;

This is the partial result:

<OrderHeader SalesOrderID="43659" OrderDate="2005-07-01T00:00:00" CustomerID="676">

<SalesPerson SalesPersonID="279" />

<OrderDetail SalesOrderID="43659" LineTotal="10.373000" ProductID="712" OrderQty="2" />

<OrderDetail SalesOrderID="43659" LineTotal="28.840400" ProductID="716" OrderQty="1" />

<OrderDetail SalesOrderID="43659" LineTotal="34.200000" ProductID="709" OrderQty="6" />

...

</OrderHeader>

<OrderHeader SalesOrderID="43661" OrderDate="2005-07-01T00:00:00" CustomerID="442">

<SalesPerson SalesPersonID="282" />

<OrderDetail SalesOrderID="43661" LineTotal="20.746000" ProductID="712" OrderQty="4" />

<OrderDetail SalesOrderID="43661" LineTotal="40.373000" ProductID="711" OrderQty="2" />

...

</OrderHeader>

See Also

Reference

Use EXPLICIT Mode with FOR XML