---
title: "Example: Specifying the ELEMENTXSINIL Directive | Microsoft Docs"
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# Example: Specifying the ELEMENTXSINIL Directive
  When you specify the ELEMENT directive to retrieve element-centric XML, if the column has a NULL value, the corresponding element is not generated by the EXPLICIT mode. You can optionally specify the ELEMENTXSINIL directive to request the generating element for NULL values where the **xsi:nil** attribute is set with the value TRUE.  
  
 The following query constructs XML that includes an employee address. For `AddressLine2` and `City` columns, the column names specify the `ELEMENTXSINIL` directive. This generates the element for NULL values in the `AddressLine2` and `City` columns in the rowset.  
  
```  
USE AdventureWorks2012;  
GO  
SELECT 1    as Tag,  
       NULL as Parent,  
       E.BusinessEntityID  as [Employee!1!EmpID],  
       BEA.AddressID as [Employee!1!AddressID],  
       NULL        as [Address!2!AddressID],  
       NULL        as [Address!2!AddressLine1!ELEMENT],  
       NULL        as [Address!2!AddressLine2!ELEMENTXSINIL],  
       NULL        as [Address!2!City!ELEMENTXSINIL]  
FROM   HumanResources.Employee AS E  
INNER JOIN Person.BusinessEntityAddress AS BEA  
    ON E.BusinessEntityID = BEA.BusinessEntityID  
  
UNION ALL  
SELECT 2 as Tag,  
       1 as Parent,  
       E.BusinessEntityID,  
       BEA.AddressID,  
       A.AddressID,  
       AddressLine1,   
       AddressLine2,  
       City   
FROM   HumanResources.Employee AS E  
INNER JOIN Person.BusinessEntityAddress AS BEA  
    ON E.BusinessEntityID = BEA.BusinessEntityID  
INNER JOIN Person.Address AS A  
    ON BEA.AddressID = A.AddressID  
ORDER BY [Employee!1!EmpID],[Address!2!AddressID]  
FOR XML EXPLICIT;  
```  
  
 This is the partial result:  
  
 `<Employee xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"`  
  
 `EmpID="1" AddressID="249">`  
  
 `<Address AddressID="249">`  
  
 `<AddressLine1>4350 Minute Dr.</AddressLine1>`  
  
 `<AddressLine2 xsi:nil="true" />`  
  
 `<City>Minneapolis</City>`  
  
 `</Address>`  
  
 `</Employee>`  
  
 `...`  
  
## See Also  
 [Use EXPLICIT Mode with FOR XML](../../relational-databases/xml/use-explicit-mode-with-for-xml.md)