saving the FOR XML AUTO results to variable in SQL

Question

select @[email protected]('*') for xml raw,type
Above statement will generate following alert:
Msg 6819, Level 16, State 3, Line 2
The FOR XML clause is not allowed in a ASSIGNMENT statement.

Answer 1

For example

DECLARE @xml_var XML  
SET @xml_var =  
(
  SELECT   *,
    (  
      SELECT *

      FROM Orders

      WHERE Orders.CustomerID=Customers.CustomerID

      FOR XML AUTO, TYPE

    )

  FROM Customers WHERE CustomerID='ALFKI'

  FOR XML AUTO, TYPE

)

refer to : http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlprogrammability/articles/576095.aspx

Answer 2

For those using SQL SERVER 2000, FOR XML is next to useless; You cannot assign the generated XML into a variable, insert into a table, etc. I had to do it manually when required, here's my sample:

SET NOCOUNT ON

create table #parcelData (
    parcelID int
    , [description] varchar(20)
)
--insert sample data
insert into #parcelData
select 1, 'apples' UNION
select 3, 'oranges' UNION
select 25, 'bananas' UNION
select 69, 'maracuja'


print '-- Example 1: FOR XML RAW --'
select parcelID as pID
from #parcelData
ORDER BY parcelID
FOR XML RAW
--> <row pID="17"/><row pID="25"/><row pID="26"/><row pID="333"/>



print '-- Example 2: Build XML Manually --'

declare   @parcelRow varchar(50), @dummy int
    , @xmlRowStr varchar(8000)
set @xmlRowStr = '' -- initialize.

DECLARE parcel_cursor CURSOR FOR 
    select DISTINCT '<row pID="' + cast(parcelID as varchar(10)) + '"/>', parcelID as parcelRow
    from #parcelData
    ORDER BY parcelID
OPEN parcel_cursor

FETCH NEXT FROM parcel_cursor
INTO @parcelRow, @dummy

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0 BEGIN
    -- build the xml row by row.
    set @xmlRowStr = @xmlRowStr + @parcelRow

    -- Get next row
    FETCH NEXT FROM parcel_cursor
    INTO @parcelRow, @dummy
END

CLOSE parcel_cursor
DEALLOCATE parcel_cursor
--print @xmlRowStr 

-- wrap a root element around 
if @xmlRowStr != '' begin
    set @xmlRowStr = '<ROOT>' + @xmlRowStr + '</ROOT>'
end
select @xmlRowStr as XmlOut


DROP TABLE #parcelData 

SET NOCOUNT OFF