Search for values in xml data
I assume you want to look in all attributes and all elements.
Use the function exist against the XML column in table B with a predicate to check for the existence of values from Table A. The function sql:column is used to get values from A into the XQuery expression.
declare @A table(Name varchar(50));
insert into @A(Name) values('John'),('Jim'),('Jason'),('Mike');
declare @B table(XMLCol xml);
insert into @B(XMLCol) values
('<Show Title="" ShowTitle="=False" ShowLine="=False" ShowDescription="=False" ShowExpandCollapse="=False" IsVisible="=True" Description="" PageBreakAfter="=False" PageCaption="" AppLink="" InfoLink="" ImageLink="" Pause="=False" PauseMessage="" PauseMessageStyle="" PauseTitle="" ScreenStyle="">
<ShowOption Sequence="1" Name="Jim" Caption="Test" SelectOptionsImageLinkFieldExpression="ImageLink" />
</Show>'),
('<vars>
<var name="MatrixName"><value>="LockExitPairCompatability"</value></var>
<var name="Jason"><value>=If(Exists(Minute.Value.Min), ToNumber(Minute.Value.Min), 0)</value></var>
<var name="MinNum"><value>=If(Exists(Agency) AND Agency = "Cert", 0, MinNum)</value></var>
<var name="Where"><value>="Site=''" + Root.Site + "'' AND HWType IN " + ToSQLArray(Root.Components[ActiveDoor].HardwareType)</value></var>
<var name="Where2"><value>=" AND HWSubType IN " + ToSQLArray(Root.Components[ActiveDoor].LockSubType)</value></var>
<var name="CompatibleList"><value>=usr.FetchMatrix</value></var>
</vars>'),
('<rule>
<property name="CollectionVariable" DisplayName="Collection Variable" ValueType="RValueExpression">John</property>
<property name="KeyVariable" DisplayName="Key Variable" ValueType="LValueExpression">NextLock</property>
</rule>');
select A.Name
from @A as A
where not exists (
select *
from @B as B
where B.XMLCol.exist('(//@*, //text())[. = sql:column("A.Name")]') = 1
);
// searches all descendants.
@ specifies that you are looking for attributes.
* is a wild card for the attribute name.
//text() gives you all descendant text values (not attributes).
(//@*, //text()) combines the attributes with the text values
[. = sql:column("A.Name")] a predicate that checks the current value against A.Name.
If you want to check if a value contains A.Name you should use the contains function.
select A.Name
from @A as A
where not exists (
select *
from @B as B
where B.XMLCol.exist('(//@*, //text())[contains(., sql:column("A.Name"))]') = 1
);
If need a case-insensitive comparison, lower-case both parameters to contains.
I love an excuse to mention this old chestnut. It's a TSQL based XML shredder that decomposes your XML doc into a series of (sort of) key-value pairs. When you don't know what you're looking for, you've kind of got to just look for everything.
CREATE OR ALTER FUNCTION dbo.fnXmlNodeValue
(
@x xml
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN
-- credit to https://stackoverflow.com/a/10885014/4709762
(
WITH cte AS
(
SELECT
lvl = 1,
Name = x.value('local-name(.)','NVARCHAR(MAX)'),
ParentName = CAST(NULL AS NVARCHAR(MAX)),
ParentPosition = CAST(1 AS INT),
NodeType = CAST(N'Element' AS NVARCHAR(20)),
FullPath = x.value('local-name(.)','NVARCHAR(MAX)'),
XPath = x.value('local-name(.)','NVARCHAR(MAX)')
+ N'[' + CAST(ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY (SELECT 1)) AS NVARCHAR) + N']',
Position = ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY (SELECT 1)),
Tree = x.value('local-name(.)','NVARCHAR(MAX)'),
Value = x.value('text()[1]','NVARCHAR(MAX)'),
this = x.query('.'),
t = x.query('*'),
Sort = CAST(CAST(1 AS VARBINARY(4)) AS VARBINARY(MAX)),
ID = CAST(1 AS INT)
FROM @x.nodes('/*') a(x)
UNION ALL
SELECT
lvl = p.lvl + 1,
Name = c.value('local-name(.)','NVARCHAR(MAX)'),
ParentName = CAST(p.Name AS NVARCHAR(MAX)),
ParentPosition = CAST(p.Position AS INT),
NodeType = CAST(N'Element' AS NVARCHAR(20)),
FullPath = CAST(p.FullPath + N'/' + c.value('local-name(.)','NVARCHAR(MAX)') AS NVARCHAR(MAX)),
XPath = CAST(p.XPath + N'/'+ c.value('local-name(.)','NVARCHAR(MAX)')
+ N'['+ CAST(ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY c.value('local-name(.)','NVARCHAR(MAX)') ORDER BY (SELECT 1)) AS NVARCHAR)+ N']' AS NVARCHAR(MAX)),
Position = ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY c.value('local-name(.)','NVARCHAR(MAX)') ORDER BY (SELECT 1)),
Tree = CAST( SPACE(2 * p.lvl - 1) + N'|' + REPLICATE(N'-', 1) + c.value('local-name(.)','NVARCHAR(MAX)') AS NVARCHAR(MAX)),
Value = CAST( c.value('text()[1]','NVARCHAR(MAX)') AS NVARCHAR(MAX) ),
this = c.query('.'),
t = c.query('*'),
Sort = CAST(p.Sort + CAST( (lvl + 1) * 1024 + (ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY (SELECT 1)) * 2) AS VARBINARY(4)) AS VARBINARY(MAX) ),
CAST((lvl + 1) * 1024 + (ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY (SELECT 1)) * 2) AS INT)
FROM cte p
CROSS APPLY p.t.nodes('*') b(c)
)
,cte2 AS
(
SELECT
lvl AS Depth,
Name AS NodeName,
ParentName,
ParentPosition,
NodeType,
FullPath,
XPath,
Position,
Tree AS TreeView,
Value,
this AS XMLData,
Sort, ID
FROM cte
UNION ALL
SELECT
p.lvl,
x.value('local-name(.)','NVARCHAR(MAX)'),
p.Name,
p.Position,
CAST(N'Attribute' AS NVARCHAR(20)),
p.FullPath + N'/@' + x.value('local-name(.)','NVARCHAR(MAX)'),
p.XPath + N'/@' + x.value('local-name(.)','NVARCHAR(MAX)'),
1,
SPACE(2 * p.lvl - 1) + N'|' + REPLICATE('-', 1)
+ N'@' + x.value('local-name(.)','NVARCHAR(MAX)'),
x.value('.','NVARCHAR(MAX)'),
NULL,
p.Sort,
p.ID + 1
FROM cte p
CROSS APPLY this.nodes('/*/@*') a(x)
)
SELECT
ID = ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY Sort, ID),
ParentName,
ParentPosition,
Depth,
NodeName,
Position,
NodeType,
FullPath,
XPath,
TreeView,
Value,
XMLData
FROM cte2
);
How can I search to find which names in Table A aren't in any of the xml strings?
After decomposing your XML doc into its key-value pairs, you do an anti-semi join to find names that do not exist in the search target.
with shredder as (
select b.id,
x.NodeName,
x.NodeType,
x.FullPath,
x.Value
from TableB as b
cross apply dbo.fnXmlNodeValue(b.x) as x
)
select *
from TableA as a
where not exists (
select 1
from shredder as s
where s.Value = a.name
);
Full demo on dbfiddle!
... or you could always crtl+f a bunch ¯\_(ツ)_/¯