For xml explicit creating wrong hierarchy

Question

hi we run 2012 std.  My query that is generally of the form u see in block 1,  which without xml phrase creates flat results u see in block 2 is putting all address info under last contact incorrectly.   Does anybody see what i'm doing
wrong?
SELECT 1 AS Tag
,null AS Parent
,NULL AS 'Request!1!'
,NULL AS 'Contacts!2!'
,NULL AS 'Contact!3!'
,NULL AS 'Contact!3!ContactID!Element'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddresses!4!'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddress!5!'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddress!5!Address1!Element'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddress!5!eMail!Element'
UNION ALL
SELECT 2 AS Tag
,1 AS Parent
,NULL AS 'Request!1!'
,NULL AS 'Contacts!2!'
,NULL AS 'Contact!3!'
,NULL AS 'Contact!3!ContactID!Element'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddresses!4!'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddress!5!'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddress!5!Address1!Element'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddress!5!eMail!Element'
UNION ALL
SELECT 3 AS Tag
,2 AS Parent
,NULL AS 'Request!1!'
,NULL AS 'Contacts!2!'
,NULL AS 'Contact!3!'
,LTRIM(RTRIM(x)) AS 'Contact!3!ContactID!Element'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddresses!4!'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddress!5!'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddress!5!Address1!Element'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddress!5!eMail!Element'
FROM ...
UNION ALL
SELECT 4 AS Tag
,3 AS Parent
,NULL AS 'Request!1!'
,NULL AS 'Contacts!2!'
,NULL AS 'Contact!3!'
,ltrim(rtrim(x)) AS 'Contact!3!ContactID!Element'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddresses!4!'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddress!5!'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddress!5!Address1!Element'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddress!5!eMail!Element'
FROM ...
UNION ALL
SELECT 5 AS Tag
,4 AS Parent
,NULL AS 'Request!1!'
,NULL AS 'Contacts!2!'
,NULL AS 'Contact!3!'
,ltrim(rtrim(x)) AS 'Contact!3!ContactID!Element'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddresses!4!'
,NULL AS 'ContactAddress!5!'
,case when y ='' then null else LTRIM(RTRIM(y)) end AS 'ContactAddress!5!Address1!Element'
,LTRIM(RTRIM(z)) AS 'ContactAddress!5!eMail!Element'
FROM ...
FOR XML EXPLICIT
Tag Parent Request!1! Contacts!2! Contact!3! Contact!3!ContactID!Element ContactAddresses!4! ContactAddress!5! ContactAddress!5!Address1!Element ContactAddress!5!eMail!Element
1 NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL
2 1 NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL
3 2 NULL NULL NULL 10 NULL NULL NULL NULL
3 2 NULL NULL NULL 11 NULL NULL NULL NULL
4 3 NULL NULL NULL 10 NULL NULL NULL NULL
4 3 NULL NULL NULL 11 NULL NULL NULL NULL
5 4 NULL NULL NULL 10 NULL NULL Address-1-1 NULL
5 4 NULL NULL NULL 10 NULL NULL Address-1-2 NULL
5 4 NULL NULL NULL 10 NULL NULL NULL [email protected]
5 4 NULL NULL NULL 11 NULL NULL NULL [email protected]
5 4 NULL NULL NULL 11 NULL NULL NULL NULL
<Request>
<Contacts>
<Contact>
<ContactID>10</ContactID>
</Contact>
<Contact>
<ContactID>11</ContactID>
<ContactAddresses />
<ContactAddresses>
<ContactAddress>
<Address1>Address1-1</Address1>
</ContactAddress>
<ContactAddress>
<Address1>Address1-2</Address1>
</ContactAddress>
<ContactAddress>
<eMail>[email protected]</eMail>
</ContactAddress>
<ContactAddress>
<eMail>[email protected]</eMail>
</ContactAddress>
<ContactAddress />
</ContactAddresses>
</Contact>
</Contacts>
</Request>

Answer 1

Hi db042190,
You have to add one more sort column for each statement in the union. The correlation you try to reflect by the column [Contact!3!ContactID!Element] does not effect. The order in the dataset to for xml explict does make sense to shape the xml. Please see below.
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[debugXML](
[ID] [tinyint] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
tag int,
parent int,
[sort] int,
[Request!1!] varchar(50),
[Contacts!2!] varchar(50),
[Contact!3!] varchar(50),
[Contact!3!ContactID!Element] int,
[ContactAddresses!4!] varchar(50),
[ContactAddress!5!] varchar(50),
[ContactAddress!5!Address1!Element] varchar(50),
[ContactAddress!5!eMail!Element] varchar(50),
CONSTRAINT [PK_debugXML] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
[ID] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY]
GO
insert dbo.debugXML
select 1 , NULL, 1,NULL , NULL , NULL , NULL , NULL , NULL , NULL , NULL
union all select 2 , 1 , 2,NULL , NULL , NULL , NULL , NULL , NULL , NULL , NULL
union all select 3 , 2 , 3,NULL , NULL , NULL , 10 , NULL , NULL , NULL , NULL
union all select 3 , 2 , 8,NULL , NULL , NULL , 11 , NULL , NULL , NULL , NULL
union all select 4 , 3 , 4,NULL , NULL , NULL , 10 , NULL , NULL , NULL , NULL
union all select 4 , 3 , 9,NULL , NULL , NULL , 11 , NULL , NULL , NULL , NULL
union all select 5 , 4 , 5,NULL , NULL , NULL , 10 , NULL , NULL , 'Address-1-1' , NULL
union all select 5 , 4 , 6,NULL , NULL , NULL , 10 , NULL , NULL , 'Address-1-2' , NULL
union all select 5 , 4 , 7,NULL , NULL , NULL , 10 , NULL , NULL , NULL , '[email protected]'
union all select 5 , 4 , 10,NULL , NULL , NULL , 11 , NULL , NULL , NULL , '[email protected]'
union all select 5 , 4 , 11,NULL , NULL , NULL , 11 , NULL , NULL , NULL , NULL
SELECT [tag]
,[parent]
,[Request!1!]
,[Contacts!2!]
,[Contact!3!]
,[Contact!3!ContactID!Element]
,[ContactAddresses!4!]
,[ContactAddress!5!]
,[ContactAddress!5!Address1!Element]
,[ContactAddress!5!eMail!Element]
FROM [dbo].[debugXML]
order by sort
for xml explicit
<Request>
<Contacts>
<Contact>
<ContactID>10</ContactID>
<ContactAddresses>
<ContactAddress>
<Address1>Address-1-1</Address1>
</ContactAddress>
<ContactAddress>
<Address1>Address-1-2</Address1>
</ContactAddress>
<ContactAddress>
<eMail>[email protected]</eMail>
</ContactAddress>
</ContactAddresses>
</Contact>
<Contact>
<ContactID>11</ContactID>
<ContactAddresses>
<ContactAddress>
<eMail>[email protected]</eMail>
</ContactAddress>
<ContactAddress />
</ContactAddresses>
</Contact>
</Contacts>
</Request>
A good reading for "FOR XML EXPLICT"
for-xml-explicit-tutorial
If you have any question, feel free to let me know.
Eric Zhang
TechNet Community Support