XML Namespace confusion in SQL

Question

I have an XML file that I need to make some modifications to.

I can load the file fine in SQL, but when I trying to read some of the nodes, I get nothing returned.. no errors either. What am I doing wrong?

The start of my XML goes like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch_request xmlns="http://sancrt.mpi.govt.nz/ecert/2013/batch-submission-schema.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://sancrt.mpi.govt.nz/ecert/2013/batch-submission-schema.xsd batchsubmission- schema.xsd">
  <raise_eligibility_document>
    <ed:Certificate xmlns="http://sancrt.mpi.govt.nz/ecert/2013/ed-multiple-submission-schema.xsd" xmlns:ed="http://sancrt.mpi.govt.nz/ecert/2013/ed-submission-schema.xsd">
      <ed:Identifiers>
        <ed:CertificateID>26920</ed:CertificateID>
        <ed:TemplateID>ED1</ed:TemplateID>
      </ed:Identifiers>
      <ed:DepartureDate>2021-03-10</ed:DepartureDate>
      <ed:Parties>
        <ed:ConsignorID>XX345</ed:ConsignorID>
        <ed:ConsigneeID>FLIGHT1</ed:ConsigneeID>
      </ed:Parties>

Here is my SQL statement to load and read this file and my attempt to return a node.

Declare  @xmlFile VARCHAR(30) = 'TESTING'

if OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#XmlImportTest') is not null
    drop table #XmlImportTest
  
CREATE TABLE #XmlImportTest(
xmlFileName VARCHAR(300) NOT NULL,
xml_data XML NOT NULL
);

declare @xmlpath varchar(200) = 'Location of file'

declare @xmlFileName varchar(200) = @xmlpath+@xmlFile+'.xml' 

--– dynamic sql is just so we can use @xmlFileName variable in OPENROWSET

EXEC('INSERT INTO #XmlImportTest(xmlFileName, xml_data)
        SELECT ''' + @xmlFileName + ''', xmlData
        FROM(
        SELECT *
        FROM OPENROWSET (BULK ''' + @xmlFileName + ''', SINGLE_BLOB) AS XMLDATA
        ) AS FileImport (XMLDATA)
    ')


DECLARE @XML AS XML, @hDoc AS INT, @SQL NVARCHAR (MAX)


select @xml = (SELECT xml_data from #XmlImportTest)

--select @xml

;with xmlnamespaces (
  'http://sancrt.mpi.govt.nz/ecert/2013/ed-multiple-submission-schema.xsd' as multiple,
  'http://sancrt.mpi.govt.nz/ecert/2013/ed-submission-schema.xsd' as submission 
)

        select
   
         header.value(N'(submission:Identifiers/submission:CertificateID/text())[1]', N'nvarchar(20)') as ecert_number
 
        from @xml.nodes('/submission:Certificate') as ci(header)

This returns nothing.

I have tried this as well:

from   

    @xml.nodes('/submission:batch_request/submission:raise_eligibility_document/submission:Certificate') as ci(header)

I have also tried to use the following for the submission name space

;with xmlnamespaces (
  'http://sancrt.mpi.govt.nz/ecert/2013/ed-multiple-submission-schema.xsd' as multiple,
  --'http://sancrt.mpi.govt.nz/ecert/2013/ed-submission-schema.xsd' as submission ,
  'http://sancrt.mpi.govt.nz/ecert/2013/batch-submission-schema.xsd' as submission
)

I still have nothing.. where am I going wrong with this please?

Answer 1

Here is a full repro how to do it properly.

Points to mention:

• Just two namespaces are relevant to the XML excerpt provided. One of them is a default namespace, so no need for its prefix. Second namespace needs 'ed' prefix.
• A proper XPath expressions are in place now in both locations, i.e. .nodes() and .value() XQuery methods.

SQL

DECLARE @xml XML =
N'<batch_request xmlns="http://sancrt.mpi.govt.nz/ecert/2013/batch-submission-schema.xsd"
               xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
               xsi:schemaLocation="http://sancrt.mpi.govt.nz/ecert/2013/batch-submission-schema.xsd batchsubmission- schema.xsd">
    <raise_eligibility_document>
        <ed:Certificate xmlns="http://sancrt.mpi.govt.nz/ecert/2013/ed-multiple-submission-schema.xsd"
                        xmlns:ed="http://sancrt.mpi.govt.nz/ecert/2013/ed-submission-schema.xsd">
            <ed:Identifiers>
                <ed:CertificateID>26920</ed:CertificateID>
                <ed:TemplateID>ED1</ed:TemplateID>
            </ed:Identifiers>
            <ed:DepartureDate>2021-03-10</ed:DepartureDate>
            <ed:Parties>
                <ed:ConsignorID>XX345</ed:ConsignorID>
                <ed:ConsigneeID>FLIGHT1</ed:ConsigneeID>
            </ed:Parties>
        </ed:Certificate>
    </raise_eligibility_document>
</batch_request>';

WITH XMLNAMESPACES (DEFAULT 'http://sancrt.mpi.govt.nz/ecert/2013/batch-submission-schema.xsd'
    , 'http://sancrt.mpi.govt.nz/ecert/2013/ed-submission-schema.xsd' AS ed)
SELECT c.value('(ed:Identifiers/ed:CertificateID/text())[1]', 'VARCHAR(30)') AS CertificateID
    , c.value('(ed:Identifiers/ed:TemplateID/text())[1]', 'VARCHAR(30)') AS TemplateID
    , c.value('(ed:DepartureDate/text())[1]', 'DATE') AS DepartureDate
    , c.value('(ed:Parties/ed:ConsignorID/text())[1]', 'VARCHAR(30)') AS ConsignorID
    , c.value('(ed:Parties/ed:ConsigneeID/text())[1]', 'VARCHAR(30)') AS ConsigneeID
FROM @xml.nodes('/batch_request/raise_eligibility_document/ed:Certificate') AS t(c);

Output

+---------------+------------+---------------+-------------+-------------+
| CertificateID | TemplateID | DepartureDate | ConsignorID | ConsigneeID |
+---------------+------------+---------------+-------------+-------------+
|         26920 | ED1        | 2021-03-10    | XX345       | FLIGHT1     |
+---------------+------------+---------------+-------------+-------------+