Guru's Guide to SQL Server™ Stored Procedures, XML, and HTML, The

SELECT…FOR XML

As the examples in the previous chapter demonstrated, you can retrieve XML data from SQL Server using the FOR XML option of the SELECT command. FOR XML causes SELECT to return query results as an XML stream rather than a traditional rowset. This stream can have one of three formats: RAW, AUTO, or EXPLICIT. The basic FOR XML syntax looks like this:

SELECT column list
FROM table list
WHERE filter criteria
FOR XML RAW | AUTO | EXPLICIT [, XMLDATA] [, ELEMENTS] [, BINARY BASE64]

Although I'll discuss these options separately, let's go over them briefly now.

RAW returns column values as attributes and wraps each row in a generic row element. AUTO returns column values as attributes and wraps each row in an element named after the ...