Create views over XML columns
Applies to:
SQL Server
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Managed Instance
You can use an xml type column to create views. The following example creates a view in which the value from an xml
type column is retrieved using the value()
method of the xml data type.
-- Create the table.
CREATE TABLE T (
ProductID INT PRIMARY KEY,
CatalogDescription XML);
GO
-- Insert sample data.
INSERT INTO T VALUES(1,'<ProductDescription ProductID="1" ProductName="SomeName" />');
GO
-- Create view (note the value() method used to retrieve ProductName
-- attribute value from the XML).
CREATE VIEW MyView AS
SELECT ProductID,
CatalogDescription.value('(/ProductDescription/@ProductName)[1]', 'varchar(40)') AS PName
FROM T;
GO
Execute the following query against the view:
SELECT *
FROM MyView;
This is the result:
ProductID PName
----------- ------------
1 SomeName
Note the following points about using the xml data type to create views:
The xml data type can be created in a materialized view. The materialized view can't be based on an xml data type method. However, it can be cast to an XML schema collection that is different from the xml type column in the base table.
The xml data type can't be used in Distributed Partitioned Views.
SQL predicates running against the view won't be pushed into the XQuery of the view definition.
xml data type methods in a view aren't updatable.