Extracting Attributes from XML Fields in SQL Server 2008 Table

Question

I have a table with several columns, one of which is a xml column. I do not have a namespace to use in the query. The XML data is always the same structure for all records.

Contrived Data

create table #temp (id int, name varchar(32), xml_data xml)

insert into #temp values
(1, 'one',   '<data><info x="42" y="99">Red</info></data>'),
(2, 'two',   '<data><info x="27" y="72">Blue</info></data>'),
(3, 'three', '<data><info x="16" y="51">Green</info></data>'),
(4, 'four',  '<data><info x="12" y="37">Yellow</info></data>')

Desired Results

Name    Info.x   Info.y   Info
-----   -------  -------  -------
one       42       99     Red
two       27       72     Blue
three     16       51     Green
four      12       37     Yellow

Partially Works

select Name, xml_data.query('/data/info/.').value('.', 'varchar(10)') as [Info]
from   #temp

It returns the Name and Info columns. I cannot figure out how to extract the attribute values without using a namespace. For instance, the following queries returns errors:

Query 1

select Name, xml_data.query('/data/info/@x') as [Info]
from   #temp

Msg 2396, Level 16, State 1, Line 12
XQuery [#temp.xml_data.query()]: Attribute may not appear outside of an element

Query 2

select Name, xml_data.value('/data/info/@x', 'int') as [Info]
from   #temp

Msg 2389, Level 16, State 1, Line 12
XQuery [#temp.xml_data.value()]: 'value()' requires a singleton (or empty sequence), found operand of type 'xdt:untypedAtomic *'

Query 3

select Name, xml_data.query('/data/info/.').value('@x', 'int') as [Info]
from   #temp

Msg 2390, Level 16, State 1, Line 9
XQuery [value()]: Top-level attribute nodes are not supported

Question

How do you write a query to return regular column data, and element + attribute values from an xml column in the same table?

Mostly

Answer 1

Just after I posted the question, I stumbled across this answer. Don't know why I couldn't find it in prior searches. It was the answer I was looking for. Here is the query that works:

Query

select Name
      ,xml_data.value('(/data/info/@x)[1]', 'int') as [Info.x]
      ,xml_data.value('(/data/info/@y)[1]', 'int') as [Info.y]
      ,xml_data.value('(/data/info/.)[1]', 'varchar(10)') as [Info]
from   #temp

Result

Name     Info.x    Info.y    Info
-------  --------  --------  ---------
one         42        99     Red
two         27        72     Blue
three       16        51     Green
four        12        37     Yellow

.

------ Edit [2014-01-29] ------

I found another case that is worth adding to this answer. Given multiple <info> elements within the <data> element, it is possible to return all <info> nodes by using cross apply:

create table #temp (id int, name varchar(32), xml_data xml)

insert into #temp values
(1, 'one',   '<data><info x="42" y="99">Red</info><info x="43" y="100">Pink</info></data>'),
(2, 'two',   '<data><info x="27" y="72">Blue</info><info x="28" y="73">Light Blue</info></data>'),
(3, 'three', '<data><info x="16" y="51">Green</info><info x="17" y="52">Orange</info></data>'),
(4, 'four',  '<data><info x="12" y="37">Yellow</info><info x="13" y="38">Purple</info></data>')

select Name
      ,C.value('@x', 'int') as [Info.x]
      ,C.value('@y', 'int') as [Info.y]
      ,C.value('.', 'varchar(10)') as [Info]
from #temp cross apply
     #temp.xml_data.nodes('data/info') as X(C)

drop table #temp

This example returns the following dataset:

Name      Info.x      Info.y      Info
--------- ----------- ----------- ----------
one       42          99          Red
one       43          100         Pink
two       27          72          Blue
two       28          73          Light Blue
three     16          51          Green
three     17          52          Orange
four      12          37          Yellow
four      13          38          Purple

Mostly

+1. When using .value you have to specify a single value with the xPath expression. You know that there are no more than one value in the XML but SQL Server does not know that so you need to specify that you want the first value found by using [1]. – Moe