How can I write this SQL while loop code to get an XML results in one line instead of 3 separate lines? - sql

Question

I'm trying to get all this XML result in one line instead of 3 for each column
DECLARE #ii INT = 10;
DECLARE #String1 NVARCHAR(4000);
SET #String1 = '';
WHILE(#ii <= 18)
BEGIN
SET #String1 = (#String1 + 'SELECT LoanNumber = ''Complaint'+CONVERT(VARCHAR(2),#ii)+'-Call1'' , LoanStatus=''Compliants'' , LoanStatusDate = CAST(GETDATE() AS DATE)
UNION
SELECT LoanNumber = ''Complaint'+CONVERT(VARCHAR(2),#ii)+'-Call2'', LoanStatus=''Compliants'' , LoanStatusDate = CAST(GETDATE() AS DATE)
UNION
SELECT LoanNumber = ''Complaint'+CONVERT(VARCHAR(2),#ii)+'-Call3'', LoanStatus=''Compliants'' , LoanStatusDate = CAST(GETDATE() AS DATE)')
IF #ii != 18
SET #string1 = #string1 + ' UNION '
ELSE
SET #string1 = #string1 + 'FOR XML PATH (''Loan''),ROOT(''Loans'') '
SET #ii = #ii+1
END
EXEC sp_executesql #String1
I want something like this:
<Loans>
<LoanNumber>Complaint10-Call1<LoanStatus>Compliants<LoanStatusDate>2019-01-18
</Loan>
<Loan>
<LoanNumber>Complaint10-Call2 <LoanStatus>Compliants<LoanStatusDate>2019-01-18
</Loan>
<Loan>
<LoanNumber>Complaint10-Call3<LoanStatus>Compliants<LoanStatusDate>2019-01-18
</Loan>
Instead of the result that you get when you execute the code I provided. I appreciate your help.

Answer 1

This might be wild guessing, but I've got the feeling, that I understand, what this is about:
if you run the code you will see the result. no input data is needed .
I just want the structure of the xml outcome to all be on one line for
one set of each loop
Your provided code leads to this:
<Loans>
<Loan>
<LoanNumber>Complaint10-Call1</LoanNumber>
<LoanStatus>Compliants</LoanStatus>
<LoanStatusDate>2019-01-22</LoanStatusDate>
</Loan>
<Loan>
<LoanNumber>Complaint10-Call2</LoanNumber>
<LoanStatus>Compliants</LoanStatus>
<LoanStatusDate>2019-01-22</LoanStatusDate>
</Loan>
<!-- more of them-->
</Loans>
This is perfectly okay, valid XML.
But you want the result
outcome to all be on one line for one set of each loop
Something like this?
<Loans>
<Loan>
<LoanNumber>Complaint10-Call1</LoanNumber><LoanStatus>Compliants</LoanStatus><LoanStatusDate>2019-01-22</LoanStatusDate>
</Loan>
<!-- more of them-->
</Loans>
There is a big misconception I think... XML is not the thing you see. The same XML can look quite differently, without any semantic difference:
Check this out:
DECLARE #xmltable table(SomeXml XML)
INSERT INTO #xmltable VALUES
--the whole in one line
('<root><a>test</a><a>test2</a></root>')
--all <a>s in one line
,('<root>
<a>test</a><a>test2</a>
</root>')
--each element in one line
,('<root>
<a>test</a>
<a>test2</a>
</root>')
--white space going wild...
,('<root>
<a>test</a>
<a>test2</a>
</root>');
--now check the results
SELECT * FROM #xmltable;
This means: How the XML appears is a matter of the interpreter. The same XML opened with another tool might appear differently. Dealing with XML means dealing with data but not with format... The actual format has no meaning and should not matter at all...
Starting with SQL-Server 2016 you might have a look at JSON, if you need a tiny format:
DECLARE #somedata table(SomeValue VARCHAR(100),SomeStatus VARCHAR(100),SomeDate DATE);
INSERT INTO #somedata VALUES
('Complaint10-Call1','Complaints','2019-01-22')
,('Complaint10-Call2','Complaints','2019-01-22')
,('Complaint10-Call3','Complaints','2019-01-22');
SELECT * FROM #somedata FOR JSON PATH;
The result comes in one line:
[{"SomeValue":"Complaint10-Call1","SomeStatus":"Complaints","SomeDate":"2019-01-22"},{"SomeValue":"Complaint10-Call2","SomeStatus":"Complaints","SomeDate":"2019-01-22"},{"SomeValue":"Complaint10-Call3","SomeStatus":"Complaints","SomeDate":"2019-01-22"}]