Create XML nodes for values in SQL - sql-server

Question

I'm having an issue to create XML nodes. Help is much appreciated !
This is a sample code
declare #tbl as table
(
employeeName nvarchar(50),
payFrequency nvarchar(50)
)
insert into #tbl
select 'John', 'Monthly'
union
select 'Carl', 'Biweekly'
select
employeeName AS 'Company/Employee',
payFrequency AS 'Company/PayFrequency'
from #tbl
for xml path ('employees'), root('paySchedule')
above code creates this output:
<paySchedule>
<employees>
<Company>
<Employee>John</Employee>
<PayFrequency>Monthly</PayFrequency>
</Company>
</employees>
<employees>
<Company>
<Employee>Carl</Employee>
<PayFrequency>Biweekly</PayFrequency>
</Company>
</employees>
</paySchedule>
I want to get the "paymentFrequency" values as a node. Is there a way to do this?
<paySchedule>
<employees>
<Company>
<Employee>John</Employee>
<PayFrequency>
<Monthly/>
</PayFrequency>
</Company>
</employees>
<employees>
<Company>
<Employee>Carl</Employee>
<PayFrequency>
<Biweekly/>
</PayFrequency>
</Company>
</employees>
</paySchedule>

Answer 1

You can use a CASE conditional for each possibility, returning an empty string when you want that node, and null otherwise.
SELECT
t.employeeName AS [Company/Employee],
CASE WHEN t.payFrequency = 'Monthly' THEN '' END AS [Company/PayFrequency/Monthly],
CASE WHEN t.payFrequency = 'Biweekly' THEN '' END AS [Company/PayFrequency/Biweekly]
FROM #tbl t
FOR XML PATH('employees'), ROOT('paySchedule'), TYPE;
You can do this also in a nested FOR XML.
SELECT
t.employeeName AS [Company/Employee],
(
SELECT
CASE WHEN t.payFrequency = 'Monthly' THEN '' END AS Monthly,
CASE WHEN t.payFrequency = 'Biweekly' THEN '' END AS Biweekly
FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE
) AS [Company/PayFrequency]
FROM #tbl t
FOR XML PATH('employees'), ROOT('paySchedule'), TYPE;
db<>fiddle
Note that <Monthly></Monthly> and <Monthly /> are semantically equivalent.

Answer 2

Please try the following solution.
It is using XQuery's FLWOR expression to compose the desired XML.
SQL
-- DDL and sample data population, start
DECLARE #tbl as table (employeeName NVARCHAR(50), payFrequency NVARCHAR(50));
INSERT INTO #tbl VALUES
('John', 'Monthly'),
('Carl', 'Biweekly');
-- DDL and sample data population, end
SELECT (
SELECT * FROM #tbl
FOR XML PATH('r'), TYPE, ROOT('root')
).query('<paySchedule>
{
for $r in /root/r
return <employees>
<Company>
<Employee>{data($r/employeeName)}</Employee>
<PayFrequency>
{
if ($r/payFrequency/text()="Monthly") then <Monthly/>
else <Biweekly/>
}
</PayFrequency>
</Company>
</employees>
}
</paySchedule>');
Output
<paySchedule>
<employees>
<Company>
<Employee>John</Employee>
<PayFrequency>
<Monthly />
</PayFrequency>
</Company>
</employees>
<employees>
<Company>
<Employee>Carl</Employee>
<PayFrequency>
<Biweekly />
</PayFrequency>
</Company>
</employees>
</paySchedule>