To answer your other question, CROSS APPLY is one way:

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS #SomeXML;

CREATE TABLE #SomeXML
(
    Col1 VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL
   ,Col2 VARCHAR(50)...

Hi Phil ,

First thank you for your reply and yes it works thankyou..... you are a champion!!

Phil  what is the best way to apply this logic to a sql...

Updating the column by matching on UniqueId should not take such a long time. Can you show us your UPDATE query? Approximately how many rows of data need to be...

OK, too many columns called vacation hours.

WITH mx
AS (SELECT TOP (1)
           VacHours = 'Max_Hours'
   ...

WITH mx
AS (SELECT TOP (1)
           VacationHours = 'Max_Hours'
         ...

You are using terminology which is confusing me.

There are no variables in my code. Zero.

Nor is there a 'header' called Max_VacationHours.

The second you put, "Min_VacationHours", but doesn't bring it.

No I...

Does this help?

SELECT ItemParam = T.c.value('Item[1]/@param', 'nvarchar(50)')
      ,ItemValue = T.c.value('Item[1]/@value', 'nchar(10)')
      ,DefaultRpx = T.c.value('DefaultRpx[1]/@value', 'nvarchar(40)')
FROM @XML.nodes('/SelectionCriteria') T(c);