XML import into SQL Server - sql

Question

This is my first time working with XML files. I have been able to read the file into a table. Now I am trying to access the data elements to insert / update into ERP.
I am getting stuck using https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/functions/openxml-transact-sql as a guide.
I am only attempting a single retrieval now, trying to keep things simple:
XML:
<TranscriptRequest xmlns="urn:org:pesc:message:TranscriptRequest:v1.0.0">
<TransmissionData>
<DocumentID xmlns="">88895-20170227180832302-ccd</DocumentID>
<CreatedDateTime xmlns="">2017-02-27T18:08:32.303-08:00</CreatedDateTime>
<DocumentTypeCode xmlns="">Request</DocumentTypeCode>
<TransmissionType xmlns="">Original</TransmissionType>
<Source xmlns="">
<Organization>
<DUNS>626927060</DUNS>
<OrganizationName>AVOW</OrganizationName>
</Organization>
</Source>
<Destination xmlns="">
<Organization>
<OPEID>3419</OPEID>
<OrganizationName>Charleston Southern University</OrganizationName>
</Organization>
</Destination>
<DocumentProcessCode xmlns="">PRODUCTION</DocumentProcessCode>
</TransmissionData>
<Request>
<CreatedDateTime xmlns="">2017-02-27T00:00:00.000-08:00</CreatedDateTime>
<Requestor xmlns="">
<Person>
<Birth>
<BirthDate>1985-01-01</BirthDate>
</Birth>
<Name>
<FirstName>Chad</FirstName>
<LastName>test2</LastName>
</Name>
<AlternateName>
<FirstName>Chad</FirstName>
<LastName>Walker</LastName>
<CompositeName>Walker, Chad</CompositeName>
</AlternateName>
<Contacts>
<Address>
<AddressLine>10260 west st</AddressLine>
<City>Denver</City>
<StateProvinceCode>CO</StateProvinceCode>
<PostalCode>80236</PostalCode>
</Address>
<Phone>
<CountryPrefixCode>1</CountryPrefixCode>
<AreaCityCode>303</AreaCityCode>
<PhoneNumber>8152848</PhoneNumber>
</Phone>
<Email>
<EmailAddress>cwalker#parchment.com</EmailAddress>
</Email>
</Contacts>
</Person>
</Requestor>
My SQL:
USE TMSEPRD
DECLARE #XML AS XML, #hDoc AS INT, #SQL NVARCHAR (MAX)
SELECT #XML = [XMLData] FROM [dbo].[CSU_Parchment_XMLwithOpenXML]
EXEC sp_xml_preparedocument #hDoc OUTPUT, #XML
SELECT BirthDate
FROM OPENXML(#hDoc, 'ROOT/Request/Requestor/Person/Birth/Birthdate')
WITH
(
BirthDate varchar(20) '../#BirthDate'
)
EXEC sp_xml_removedocument #hDoc
GO
Birthdate remains blank. So far I have tried eliminating the ../ in front of #Birthdate, I have tried removing the #, I have tried removing Birthdate from the path.

Answer 1

Using Xml Data Type Methods
DECLARE #XML XML='<TranscriptRequest xmlns="urn:org:pesc:message:TranscriptRequest:v1.0.0">
<TransmissionData>
<DocumentID xmlns="">88895-20170227180832302-ccd</DocumentID>
<CreatedDateTime xmlns="">2017-02-27T18:08:32.303-08:00</CreatedDateTime>
<DocumentTypeCode xmlns="">Request</DocumentTypeCode>
<TransmissionType xmlns="">Original</TransmissionType>
<Source xmlns="">
<Organization>
<DUNS>626927060</DUNS>
<OrganizationName>AVOW</OrganizationName>
</Organization>
</Source>
<Destination xmlns="">
<Organization>
<OPEID>3419</OPEID>
<OrganizationName>Charleston Southern University</OrganizationName>
</Organization>
</Destination>
<DocumentProcessCode xmlns="">PRODUCTION</DocumentProcessCode>
</TransmissionData>
<Request>
<CreatedDateTime xmlns="">2017-02-27T00:00:00.000-08:00</CreatedDateTime>
<Requestor xmlns="">
<Person>
<Birth>
<BirthDate>1985-01-01</BirthDate>
</Birth>
<Name>
<FirstName>Chad</FirstName>
<LastName>test2</LastName>
</Name>
<AlternateName>
<FirstName>Chad</FirstName>
<LastName>Walker</LastName>
<CompositeName>Walker, Chad</CompositeName>
</AlternateName>
<Contacts>
<Address>
<AddressLine>10260 west st</AddressLine>
<City>Denver</City>
<StateProvinceCode>CO</StateProvinceCode>
<PostalCode>80236</PostalCode>
</Address>
<Phone>
<CountryPrefixCode>1</CountryPrefixCode>
<AreaCityCode>303</AreaCityCode>
<PhoneNumber>8152848</PhoneNumber>
</Phone>
<Email>
<EmailAddress>cwalker#parchment.com</EmailAddress>
</Email>
</Contacts>
</Person>
</Requestor>
</Request>
</TranscriptRequest>';
SQL query:
with xmlnamespaces('urn:org:pesc:message:TranscriptRequest:v1.0.0' as ns)
select t.n.value('BirthDate[1]','date')
from #XML.nodes('ns:TranscriptRequest/ns:Request/Requestor/Person/Birth') t(n);

Answer 2

Namespaces
How is this XML generated? Is this under your control? What makes me wonder are various xmlns="" This is defining empty default namespaces over and over... Allthough there is one default NS xmlns="urn:org:pesc:message:TranscriptRequest:v1.0.0" in the first line, which seems to be correct.
For this namespace issue there are many solutions:
Create this without the empty xmlns - if this is under your control
Use REPLACE and cut away xmlns="" (be aware of the leading blank!) on string level, before you write this into your xml typed column / variable
use a wildcard (*:) for the namespaces of the first two levels
Define a namespace alias for the default and let the empty namespaces be the default for the lower levels
Structure
Your XML seems to be plain 1:1, only 1 source, 1 destination, one reques. And only 1 person within <Request> and again only 1 Name and so on below <Person>. There is a <Contacts> element, which sounds like 1:n, but it seems to include only 1 address, 1 phone... Reading plain 1:1 is easy...
I will use a CTE with two calls in .query() for an easy approach to solve the namespace issue with a wildcard. This allows to read the rest without namespaces:
some examples how to read your elements, the rest is up to you...
WITH levels AS
(
SELECT #xml.query(N'/*:TranscriptRequest/*:TransmissionData/*') AS td
,#xml.query(N'/*:TranscriptRequest/*:Request/*') AS rq
)
SELECT --TransmissionData
td.value(N'(DocumentID/text())[1]',N'nvarchar(max)') AS DocumentID
,td.value(N'(CreatedDateTime/text())[1]',N'datetime') AS td_CreatedDateTime
--more elemenst...
,td.value(N'(Source/Organization/DUNS/text())[1]',N'bigint') AS Source_Organization_DUNS
--more elements...
,td.value(N'(Destination/Organization/OPEID/text())[1]',N'bigint') AS Destination_Organization_OPEID
--Request
,rq.value(N'(CreatedDateTime/text())[1]',N'datetime') AS rq_CreatedDateTime
--Request-Person
,rq.value(N'(Requestor/Person/Name/FirstName/text())[1]',N'nvarchar(max)') AS Requestor_FirstName
--Contacts
,rq.value(N'(Requestor/Person/Contacts/Address/AddressLine/text())[1]',N'nvarchar(max)') AS Requestor_AddressLine
FROM levels