For those having trouble getting the download, I also posted it at:

http://www.hughlynch.com/shapes/RSSWebShapes.zip

I'm not sure what's up with tech.rssgroup.com; unfortunately, it's one of those awkward "works-for-me" situations.  Sorry about the difficulty.

Ryan,

Thanks for the post.  The FOR XML examples are excellent and if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to incorporate them into the article.  I don't know if/when/where it will be published again, but nonetheless... 

The examples make it fairly evident that even at this modest level of complexity, the FOR XML EXPLICIT syntax and construction leave a bit to be desired.  On the other hand, the FOR XML AUTO seems simple enough, but provides very little control.  Neither is much fun to work with in Query Analyzer and both have the property of burdening the database with work that could easily be farmed out.

I'll continue to monitor this thread for those wishing to give shapes a try.

-Hugh