Using SQL to transpose/flatten XML structure to columns

Parsing the XML is fairly expensive so instead of parsing once to build a dynamic query and once to get the data you can create a temporary table with a Name-Value list and then use that as the source for a dynamic pivot query.
dense_rank is there to create the ID to pivot around.
To build the column list in the dynamic query it uses the for xml path('') trick.

This solution requires that your table has a primary key (ID). If you have the XML in a variable it can be somewhat simplified.

select dense_rank() over(order by ID, I.N) as ID,       F.N.value('(Text/text())[1]', 'varchar(max)') as Name,       F.N.value('(Value/text())[1]', 'varchar(max)') as Valueinto #Tfrom YourTable as T  cross apply T.XMLCol.nodes('/Items/Item') as I(N)  cross apply I.N.nodes('FormItem') as F(N)declare @SQL nvarchar(max)declare @Col nvarchar(max)select @Col =   (  select distinct ','+quotename(Name)  from #T  for xml path(''), type  ).value('substring(text()[1], 2)', 'nvarchar(max)')set @SQL = 'select '+@Col+'            from #T            pivot (max(Value) for Name in ('+@Col+')) as P'exec (@SQL)drop table #T

SQL Fiddle

select Tab.Col.value('(FormItem[Text = "FirstName"]/Value)[1]', 'varchar(32)') as FirstName,         Tab.Col.value('(FormItem[Text = "LastName"]/Value)[1]', 'varchar(32)') as LastName,         Tab.Col.value('(FormItem[Text = "Age"]/Value)[1]', 'int') as Agefrom @Questions.nodes('/Items/Item') Tab(Col)

I wanted to add my "own answer" really just for completeness to possibly help others.. however it is most definitely based on the great help from @Mikael above!! so again, this is really for completeness only - all kudos to @Mikael.

Basically I ended up with the following proc. I needed to select some data/filter, and get some joined data too and allow some boolean filtering on some of the input params. Then drop into the next section which was create a temp table of my relational data and the required xml nodes via the cross apply. The final step was to then pivot the results/dynamically create the columns from the selected XML node..

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[usp_RPT_ExtractFlattenentries]    @CompanyID          int,    @MainSelector       nvarchar(50) = null,    @SecondarySelector      nvarchar(255) = null,    @DateFrom           datetime = '01-jan-2012',    @DateTo             datetime = '31-dec-2100',    @SysReference       nvarchar(20) = nullASBEGIN    SET NOCOUNT ON;    --  Create the table var to hold the XML form data from the entries    declare @FeedbackXml table (        ID int identity primary key,        XMLCol xml,        CompanyName nvarchar(20),        SysReference nvarchar(20),        RecordDate datetime,        EntryName  nvarchar(255),        MainSelector nvarchar(50)    )    --  STEP 1: Get the raw submission data based on the params passed in    --  *Note: The double casting is necessary as the "form" field is nvarchar (not varchar) and we need xml in UTF-8 format    begin        insert into @FeedbackXml            (XMLCol, CompanyName, SysReference, RecordDate, EntryName, MainSelector)        select cast(cast(e.form as nvarchar(max)) as xml), c.name, e.SysReference, e.RecordDate, e.name, e.wizard        from             entries s        left join            companies o on e.companies = c.ID        where             (@CompanyID = -1 or @CompanyID = e.companies)        and            (@MainSelector is null or @MainSelector = e.wizard)        and            (@SecondarySelector is null or @SecondarySelector = e.name)        and            (@SysReference is null or @SysReference = e.SysReference)        and            (e.RecordDate >= @DateFrom and e.RecordDate <= @DateTo)    end    --  STEP 2: Flatten the required XML structure to provide a base for the pivot, and include other fields we wish to output    select dense_rank() over(order by ID) as ID,            T.RecordDate, T.CompanyName, T.SysReference, T.EntryName, T.MainSelector,            F.N.value('(FieldNameNode/text())[1]', 'nvarchar(max)') as FieldName,            F.N.value('(FieldNameValue/text())[1]', 'nvarchar(max)') as FieldValue    into #TempData    from @FeedbackXml as T        cross apply T.XMLCol.nodes('/root/companies/') as I(N) -- Xpath to the desired node start point        cross apply I.N.nodes('company') as F(N) -- The actual node collection that forms the "field name" and "field value" data    --  STEP 3: Pivot the #TempData table creating a dynamic column structure based on the selected XML nodes in step 2    declare @SQL nvarchar(max)    declare @Col nvarchar(max)    select @Col =       (      select distinct ','+quotename(FieldName)      from #TempData      for xml path(''), type      ).value('substring(text()[1], 2)', 'nvarchar(max)')    set @SQL = 'select CompanyName, SysReference, EntryName, MainSelector, RecordDate, '+@Col+'                from #TempData                pivot (max(FieldValue) for FieldName in ('+@Col+')) as P'    exec (@SQL)    drop table #TempDataEND

Again, really only added this answer to provide a complete picture from my perspective, and may help others.