T-SQL Parse XML Response in table format

Question

I am struggling with parsing an XML Response I have. I need the header values to be columns and the record values to be the data inside their respective rows. Below is a sample of a return with the header values and 1 record.

Where records show xsi:nil="true" would be NULL

<env:Envelope xmlns:env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <env:Header/>
   <env:Body>
      <ns2:getReportResultResponse xmlns:ns2="http://service.apiendpoint.com">
         <return>
            <header>
               <values>
                  <data>CUSTOMER NAME</data>
                  <data>DISPOSITION GROUP A</data>
                  <data>DISPOSITION GROUP B</data>
                  <data>DISPOSITION GROUP C</data>
                  <data>DISPOSITION PATH</data>
                  <data>FIRST DISPOSITION</data>
                  <data>LAST DISPOSITION</data>
                  <data>LIST NAME</data>
               </values>
            </header>
            <records>
               <values>
                  <data>Mark Smith</data>
                  <data>12</data>
                  <data>19</data>
                  <data>23</data>
                  <data xsi:nil="true" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
                   <data xsi:nil="true" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
                   <data xsi:nil="true" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
                  <data>Tier 1</data>
               </values>
            </records>
            </return>
      </ns2:getReportResultResponse>
   </env:Body>
</env:Envelope>

Answer 1

declare @x xml = N'
<env:Envelope xmlns:env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <env:Header/>
   <env:Body>
      <ns2:getReportResultResponse xmlns:ns2="http://service.apiendpoint.com">
         <return>
            <header>
               <values>
                  <data>CUSTOMER NAME</data>
                  <data>DISPOSITION GROUP A</data>
                  <data>DISPOSITION GROUP B</data>
                  <data>DISPOSITION GROUP C</data>
                  <data>DISPOSITION PATH</data>
                  <data>FIRST DISPOSITION</data>
                  <data>LAST DISPOSITION</data>
                  <data>LIST NAME</data>
               </values>
            </header>
            <records>
               <values>
                  <data>Mark Smith</data>
                  <data>12</data>
                  <data>19</data>
                  <data>23</data>
                  <data xsi:nil="true" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
                   <data xsi:nil="true" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
                   <data xsi:nil="true" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
                  <data>Tier 1</data>
               </values>
               <values>
                  <data>B</data>
                  <data>2</data>
                  <data>22</data>
                  <data>222</data>
                  <data xsi:nil="true" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
                   <data xsi:nil="false" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/><!-- ?? -->
                   <data xsi:nil="true" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
                   <data>Tier 2</data>
               </values>               
            </records>
            </return>
      </ns2:getReportResultResponse>
   </env:Body>
</env:Envelope>
';

select @x;

declare @sql nvarchar(max) = N'';

with xmlnamespaces ('http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/' as env, 'http://service.apiendpoint.com' as ns2)
select 
    @sql = @sql + ',r.rec.value(''data[' + cast(colid as nvarchar(10)) + '][not(@xsi:nil="true")]'', ''nvarchar(500)'') as ' + colname
from 
(
    select 
        quotename(hd.h.value('.', 'sysname')) as colname,
        row_number() over(order by hd.h) as colid
    from @x.nodes('/env:Envelope/env:Body/ns2:getReportResultResponse/return/header/values/data') as hd(h)
) as src
order by colid;

select @sql = stuff(@sql, 1, 1, N'');

select @sql = N'with xmlnamespaces (''http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/'' as env, ''http://service.apiendpoint.com'' as ns2, ''http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance'' as xsi)
select 
' + @sql + N'
from @x.nodes(''/env:Envelope/env:Body/ns2:getReportResultResponse/return/records/values'') as r(rec)
';

exec sp_executesql @stmt = @sql, @params = N'@x xml', @x = @x;

Answer 2

Assuming you have your XML data in a SQL Server variable @XmlData , you could use this XQuery to get the column names ("headers"):

WITH XMLNAMESPACES ('http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/' AS env, 'http://service.apiendpoint.com' AS ns2)
    SELECT
        XCol.value('(.)[1]', 'varchar(50)')
    FROM
        @XmlData.nodes('/env:Envelope/env:Body/ns2:getReportResultResponse/return/header/values/data') AS XHdr(XCol);

This is fairly straightforward, since you can assume every single header is really a string (therefore you can do the .value('(.)[1]', 'varchar(50)') call and be on the safe side).

However, for the data - as @Serg already mentioned in the comment - unless you can somehow know (or find out) what the data elements' datatypes are, this is going to be trickier... Using the same approach - assuming everything is a string - would work - but then you might be losing valuable information about your data bits:

WITH XMLNAMESPACES ('http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/' AS env, 'http://service.apiendpoint.com' AS ns2)
    SELECT
        XCol.value('(.)[1]', 'varchar(50)')
    FROM
        @XmlData.nodes('/env:Envelope/env:Body/ns2:getReportResultResponse/return/records/values/data') AS XData(XCol)

Answer 3

Here is another solution. It is very close to the @lptr's method.

It is using XQuery and FLWOR expression to construct a dynamic SELECT clause of the final SQL statement.

SQL

DECLARE @x xml = N'
<env:Envelope xmlns:env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <env:Header/>
   <env:Body>
      <ns2:getReportResultResponse xmlns:ns2="http://service.apiendpoint.com">
         <return>
            <header>
               <values>
                  <data>CUSTOMER NAME</data>
                  <data>DISPOSITION GROUP A</data>
                  <data>DISPOSITION GROUP B</data>
                  <data>DISPOSITION GROUP C</data>
                  <data>DISPOSITION PATH</data>
                  <data>FIRST DISPOSITION</data>
                  <data>LAST DISPOSITION</data>
                  <data>LIST NAME</data>
               </values>
            </header>
            <records>
               <values>
                  <data>Mark Smith</data>
                  <data>12</data>
                  <data>19</data>
                  <data>23</data>
                  <data xsi:nil="true" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
                   <data xsi:nil="true" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
                   <data xsi:nil="true" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
                  <data>Tier 1</data>
               </values>
               <values>
                  <data>B</data>
                  <data>2</data>
                  <data>22</data>
                  <data>222</data>
                  <data xsi:nil="true" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
                   <data xsi:nil="false" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/><!-- ?? -->
                   <data xsi:nil="true" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
                   <data>Tier 2</data>
               </values>               
            </records>
            </return>
      </ns2:getReportResultResponse>
   </env:Body>
</env:Envelope>';

DECLARE @sql NVARCHAR(MAX) = N''
    , @separator CHAR(1) = ',';

WITH XMLNAMESPACES ('http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/' as env, 'http://service.apiendpoint.com' as ns2)
SELECT @sql = @x.query('
    for $r in /env:Envelope/env:Body/ns2:getReportResultResponse/return/header/values/data
    let $pos := count(env:Envelope/env:Body/ns2:getReportResultResponse/return/header/values/data[. << $r]) + 1
    let $line := concat("c.value(''(data[", string($pos), "]/text())[1]'', ''VARCHAR(50)'') AS [", string(($r/text())[1]),"]")
    return if ($r is (/env:Envelope/env:Body/ns2:getReportResultResponse/return/header/values/data[last()])[1]) then string($line)
            else concat($line, sql:variable("@separator"))
').value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)');

SET @sql = N';WITH XMLNAMESPACES (''http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/'' as env, ''http://service.apiendpoint.com'' as ns2)
SELECT ' + @sql + N'
FROM @x.nodes(''/env:Envelope/env:Body/ns2:getReportResultResponse/return/records/values'') AS t(c)
';

EXEC sp_executesql @stmt = @sql, @params = N'@x xml', @x = @x;

Output

+---------------+---------------------+---------------------+---------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------+-----------+
| CUSTOMER NAME | DISPOSITION GROUP A | DISPOSITION GROUP B | DISPOSITION GROUP C | DISPOSITION PATH | FIRST DISPOSITION | LAST DISPOSITION | LIST NAME |
+---------------+---------------------+---------------------+---------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------+-----------+
| Mark Smith    |                  12 |                  19 |                  23 | NULL             | NULL              | NULL             | Tier 1    |
| B             |                   2 |                  22 |                 222 | NULL             | NULL              | NULL             | Tier 2    |
+---------------+---------------------+---------------------+---------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------+-----------+