SQL Server FOR XML Path make repeating nodes

Question

I\'d like to generate the following output using SQL Server 2012:

  1
  2
  3<         


        

Answer 1

There are actually a few ways to solve this with the XML Path syntax.

The first is to UNPIVOT your results first, for example:

SELECT item as [text()]
FROM 
   (select col1, col2, col3 from tbl) p
UNPIVOT
   (item FOR colHeading IN (col1, col2, col3)) AS unpvt
FOR XML PATH ('item'), ROOT ('parent')

The 2nd doesn't require the unpivot, but repeats more of your query:

select (select col1 as [text()] from tbl for xml path('item'), type)
    ,  (select col2 as [text()] from tbl for xml path('item'), type)
    ,  (select col3 as [text()] from tbl for xml path('item'), type)
for xml path ('parent')

Both of these will combine multiple rows of data all under the same parent node. For example, if you have 2 rows, the first with 1,2,3 and the second 4,5,6, you'd get:

    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6

If, instead, you want each row you unpivot to have a unique parent element per row, then, assuming you have some row identifier on each row (I'll call it parentId), you can group these by that row by tweaking these approaches:

SELECT
  (
      SELECT item as [text()]
      FROM 
        (select parentId, col1, col2, col3 from tbl tt where tt.parentid =   t.parentid) p
      UNPIVOT
        (item FOR colHeading IN (col1, col2, col3)) AS unpvt
      FOR XML PATH ('item'), TYPE
  )
FROM tbl t
FOR XML PATH ('parent')

or

select (select col1 as [text()] from tbl tt where t.parentid = tt.parentid for xml path('item'), type)
    ,  (select col2 as [text()] from tbl tt where t.parentid = tt.parentid for xml path('item'), type)
    ,  (select col3 as [text()] from tbl tt where t.parentid = tt.parentid for xml path('item'), type)
from tbl t
for xml path ('parent')

Which would result in:

    1
    2
    3


    4
    5
    6

Sql Fiddle with demo