example-specifying-the-element-directive.md

title	Example: Specifying the ELEMENT Directive
description	View an example of how to specify the ELEMENT directive in a SQL query to generate element-centric XML.
author	MikeRayMSFT
ms.author	mikeray
ms.reviewer	randolphwest
ms.date	05/05/2022
ms.service	sql
ms.subservice	xml
ms.topic	how-to
ms.custom	ignite-2025
helpviewer_keywords	ELEMENT directive

Example: Specify the ELEMENT directive

[!INCLUDE SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance FabricSQLDB]

This retrieves employee information and generates element-centric XML as shown in the following:

<Employee EmpID=...>
  <Name>
    <FName>...</FName>
    <LName>...</LName>
  </Name>
</Employee>

The query remains the same, except you add the ELEMENT directive in the column names. Therefore, instead of attributes, the <FName> and <LName> element children are added to the <Name> element. Because the Employee!1!EmpID column doesn't specify the ELEMENT directive, EmpID is added as the attribute of the <Employee> element.

SELECT 1    as Tag,
       NULL as Parent,
       E.BusinessEntityID as [Employee!1!EmpID],
       NULL       as [Name!2!FName!ELEMENT],
       NULL       as [Name!2!LName!ELEMENT]
FROM   HumanResources.Employee AS E
INNER JOIN Person.Person AS P
ON  E.BusinessEntityID = P.BusinessEntityID
UNION ALL
SELECT 2 as Tag,
       1 as Parent,
       E.BusinessEntityID,
       FirstName,
       LastName
FROM   HumanResources.Employee AS E
INNER JOIN Person.Person AS P
ON  E.BusinessEntityID = P.BusinessEntityID
ORDER BY [Employee!1!EmpID],[Name!2!FName!ELEMENT]
FOR XML EXPLICIT;

This is the partial result.

<Employee EmpID="1">
  <Name>
    <FName>Ken</FName>
    <LName>Sánchez</LName>
  </Name>
</Employee>
<Employee EmpID="2">
  <Name>
    <FName>Terri</FName>
    <LName>Duffy</LName>
  </Name>
</Employee>
...

See also

• Use EXPLICIT Mode with FOR XML