Is @mp:id always in order of the XML Doc?

Question

I am parsing some xml using OPENXML. I need to get an Identity off of the XML to know the order of the nodes.

is @mp:id always in order? I know they are not sequential, but are they at least in order?

For example would the following query always produce results in the exact same order as the XML?

    SELECT  row_number() OVER (ORDER BY OrderID) rn, 
            StepID, CONVERT(varchar(max), CONVERT(VARBINARY(max), StepID), 2), 
            [ACTION]
    FROM    OPENXML(@idoc, 'descendant::step |descendant::compref', 2)
            WITH ([OrderID] INT '@mp:id',
                  [StepID] INT '@id',
                  [Action] VARCHAR(max) 'parameterizedString[1]')
    ORDER BY rn

or is @mp:id a meta data kind of thing that could go in any order based on how things are saved?

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 06 '11 at 07:25

You have no guarantee of right order. To have it, you can generate numbers sequence (eg NF table with column Number) and then query your XML using XPath with position() function:

SELECT NF.Number,Order_id FROM NF
CROSS APPLY(SELECT Table.Row.value('@Id','int') Order_Id
    FROM @xml.nodes('//Root/Order[position()=sql:column("NF.Number")]') AS Table(Row))  AS XMLTable

Is @mp:id always in order of the XML Doc?

1 Answers1