Giorgio Vidali (12/17/2015)
One final thing I'd like to ask is.... considering that I will have to get more and more familiar with XML data... what is the best resource to understand and learn how to query XML data... and what techniques to use and when and why...
Glad that worked for you and glad to help:
As for resources:
SQLServerCentral is the best place for questions, you have people like Eirikur and myself that enjoy helping people with XML.
For a great Into to XML see:
W3Schools.com is a great beginner resource.
Pay special attention to the section about XPath.
A great resource here on SSC is also Robert Sheldon's Stairway to XML[/url].
For parsing XML inside SQL Server see xml Data Type Methods on msdn.microsoft.com
There's also Robert Sheldon's article on Simple-Talk: The XML Methods in SQL Server[/url].
-- Itzik Ben-Gan 2001