Koen Verbeeck (5/9/2012)
Good question, learned something.However, the question itself was a bit weird to read (at least for me, a non-native English speaker). I had to read it a few times to finally get it.
I learned something, and I got it right. But the whole....
When the table contains sparse columns and a sparse column set, then all of the sparse columns will not be returned
The columns come back, but in an XML column.... so depending on semantics, either the first or last answer could be construed as correct.
I'm glad I guessed correctl.y, but... I'd have rather not had to guess as to the intention of the author at the end.