Nesting XML elements with FOR XML, PATH - sql-server

Question

I have a table EVENTS:
Name Event Gift Label
Jeff Birthday Card Happy Birthday
Jeff Birthday Present Jeff's prezzy
Maisey Promotion Cake Well Done!
Maisey Birthday Card Happy Birthday
Maisey Birthday Cake Another Year Older!
Here's the code to produce that table:
DECLARE #TempTable TABLE
(
[name] VARCHAR(250),
[event] VARCHAR(250),
[gift] VARCHAR(250),
[label] VARCHAR(2500)
);
INSERT INTO #TempTable([name], [event], [gift], [label]) VALUES
('Jeff','Birthday','Card','Happy Birthday'),
('Jeff','Birthday','Present','Jeff`s prezzy'),
('Maisey','Promotion','Cake','Well Done!'),
('Maisey','Birthday','Card','Happy Birthday'),
('Maisey','Birthday','Cake','Another Year Older!')
Which I would like to generate the following XML from:
<celebrations>
<person name="Jeff">
<events>
<event name="Birthday">
<gifts>
<gift name="Card" Value="Happy Birthday" />
<gift name="Present" Value="Jeff's prezzy" />
</gifts>
</event>
</events>
</person>
<person name="Maisey">
<events>
<event name="Promotion">
<gifts>
<gift name="Cake" value="Well Done!" />
</gifts>
</event>
<event name="Birthday">
<gifts>
<gift name="Card" value="Happy Birthday" />
<gift name="Cake" value="Another Year Older!" />
</gifts>
</event>
</events>
</person>
</celebrations>
My current SQLXML looks like this:
SELECT (
SELECT (
SELECT T1.*
FOR XML path('')
,root('gifts')
,type
)
FROM #TempTable AS T1
FOR XML path('person')
,type
)
FOR XML path('persons')
Which is currently producing this:
<persons>
<person>
<gifts>
<name>Jeff</name>
<event>Birthday</event>
<gift>Card</gift>
<label>Happy Birthday</label>
</gifts>
</person>
<person>
<gifts>
<name>Jeff</name>
<event>Birthday</event>
<gift>Present</gift>
<label>Jeff`s prezzy</label>
</gifts>
</person>
<person>
<gifts>
<name>Maisey</name>
<event>Promotion</event>
<gift>Cake</gift>
<label>Well Done!</label>
</gifts>
</person>
<person>
<gifts>
<name>Maisey</name>
<event>Birthday</event>
<gift>Card</gift>
<label>Happy Birthday</label>
</gifts>
</person>
<person>
<gifts>
<name>Maisey</name>
<event>Birthday</event>
<gift>Cake</gift>
<label>Another Year Older!</label>
</gifts>
</person>
</persons>
How do I format it to look like the XML in the portion at the top of this post?

Answer 1

Try this, the magic is the correlated sub-query with GROUP BY:
DECLARE #TempTable TABLE
(
[name] VARCHAR(250),
[event] VARCHAR(250),
[gift] VARCHAR(250),
[label] VARCHAR(2500)
);
INSERT INTO #TempTable([name], [event], [gift], [label]) VALUES
('Jeff','Birthday','Card','Happy Birthday'),
('Jeff','Birthday','Present','Jeff`s prezzy'),
('Maisey','Promotion','Cake','Well Done!'),
('Maisey','Birthday','Card','Happy Birthday'),
('Maisey','Birthday','Cake','Another Year Older!')
SELECT t1.[Name] AS [#name]
,(
SELECT T2.[Event] AS [#name]
,(
SELECT T3.gift AS [#name], T3.label AS [#value]
FROM #TempTable T3
WHERE T1.[Name]=T3.[Name] AND T2.[event] = T3.[event]
GROUP BY T3.gift, T3.label
FOR XML PATH('gift'),ROOT('gifts'),TYPE
)
FROM #TempTable T2
WHERE T1.[Name]=T2.[Name]
GROUP BY T2.[event]
FOR XML PATH('event'),ROOT('events'),TYPE
)
FROM #TempTable AS T1
GROUP BY t1.[Name]
FOR XML PATH('person'),ROOT('celebrations'),TYPE;
The result
<celebrations>
<person name="Jeff">
<events>
<event name="Birthday">
<gifts>
<gift name="Card" value="Happy Birthday" />
<gift name="Present" value="Jeff`s prezzy" />
</gifts>
</event>
</events>
</person>
<person name="Maisey">
<events>
<event name="Birthday">
<gifts>
<gift name="Cake" value="Another Year Older!" />
<gift name="Card" value="Happy Birthday" />
</gifts>
</event>
<event name="Promotion">
<gifts>
<gift name="Cake" value="Well Done!" />
</gifts>
</event>
</events>
</person>
</celebrations>