Shredding XML from table column into a view in SQL Server

Question

I currently have this code which stores XML into an XML-type column called data, in a table called Storage.

    CREATE TABLE Storage
(
    ID INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
    data XML NOT NULL
)

GO

INSERT INTO Storage(data) 
VALUES('<footballteams>   
    <team manager="Benitez">     
        <name>Liverpool</name>     
        <ground>Anfield</ground>   
    </team>   
    <team manager="Mourinho">     
        <name>Chelsea</name>     
        <ground>Stamford Bridge</ground>   
    </team>   
    <team manager="Wenger">     
         <name>Arsenal</name>     
         <ground>Highbury</ground>   
    </team> 
</footballteams>'); 

I would like to create a view called Football View which shreds the data and displays it in the form: FootballView(TeamName,Manager,Ground).

I have shredded full documents using the .nodes() method into table columns before, but it seems to be more challenging when creating a view (I have my reasons for using views). The problem is that previously I just called .nodes on a variable @input which was DECLARE'd as xml = 'xmlcontent' but with views this can't be done, and I want to parse XML contained within the Storage table column.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

EDIT:

Previously, if I had shredded into tables this would be the code I use:

SELECT     
        TeamName = Foot.value('(name)[1]', 'varchar(100)'),     
        Manager = Foot.value('(@manager)', 'varchar(100)'),     
        Ground = Foot.value('(ground)[1]', 'varchar(100)')   
FROM     
        @input.nodes('/footballteams/team') AS Tbl(Foot)

EDIT2: This is the output I expect.

Phyl

Can you post the code you used to shred into columns, and also how you've gone about trying to convert it. – Lass

What output are you expecting? – Tremendous

What's the problem with placing that query in a view? – Swastika

The problem is that previously I just called .nodes on a variable @input which was DECLARE'd as xml = 'xmlcontent' but with views this can't be done, and I want to parse XML contained within the Storage table column. – Phyl

Answer 1

You need to use CROSS APPLY

SELECT     
        TeamName = Foot.value('(name)[1]', 'varchar(100)'),     
        Manager = Foot.value('(@manager)', 'varchar(100)'),     
        Ground = Foot.value('(ground)[1]', 'varchar(100)')   
FROM    
    Storage S 
        CROSS APPLY data.nodes('/footballteams/team') AS Tbl(Foot)

CROSS APPLY and OUTER APPLY allow you to effectively join to a collection of XML in the current data set.

Omniscience

Can i ask, is the difference between cross and outer apply that outer will include NULLs too? – Phyl

@Phyl - Using APPLY is a page on both forms, including the differences. – Swastika