FOR XML support for the timestamp data type

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance SQL database in Microsoft Fabric

In the FOR XML transformation, timestamp type values are treated as varbinary(8) data, and is always Base64 encoded. The XML Schema Definition (XSD) or XML-Data Reduced (XDR) schema, if requested, reflects this type.

DROP TABLE t;
GO

CREATE TABLE t (
    c1 INT,
    c2 TIMESTAMP
);
GO

INSERT t VALUES (1, NULL);
GO

SELECT * FROM t
FOR XML AUTO, XMLDATA;
GO

Here's the result set.

<Schema name="Schema1" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-data" xmlns:dt="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:datatypes">
    <ElementType name="t" content="empty" model="closed">
        <AttributeType name="c1" dt:type="i4" />
        <AttributeType name="c2" dt:type="bin.base64" />
        <attribute type="c1" />
        <attribute type="c2" />
    </ElementType>
</Schema>
<t xmlns="x-schema:#Schema1" c1="1" c2="AAAAAAAACGE=" />

Related content

• FOR XML support for various SQL Server data types