<Receivable documentNumber="PYMNT000000000012    " documentDate="12/13/2007">

    <Type>PAYMENT</Type>

    <CashType>CHECK</CashType>

    <Description />

    <CheckNumber />

    <Amount>3.00000</Amount>

    <AppliedAmount>3.00000</AppliedAmount>

    <UnappliedAmount>0.00000</UnappliedAmount>

    <Items />

</Receivable>

--create an xml variable, and then read an xml document into it. 

declare @x xml

declare @y as varchar(1000)

select @y ='<Receivable documentNumber="PYMNT12" documentDate="12/13/2007">'

select @y = @y + '  <Type>PAYMENT</Type>'

select @y = @y + '  <CashType>CHECK</CashType>'

select @y = @y + '  <Description />'

select @y = @y + '  <CheckNumber />'

select @y = @y + '  <Amount>3.00000</Amount>'

select @y = @y + '  <AppliedAmount>3.00000</AppliedAmount>'

select @y = @y + '  <UnappliedAmount>0.00000</UnappliedAmount>'

select @y = @y + '  <Items />'

select @y = @y + '</Receivable>'

select @x = @y

--SQL 2000 CODE

-- Initialize XML handle

DECLARE @hdoc INT    

EXEC sp_xml_preparedocument @hdoc OUTPUT, @x

 -- select the records

SELECT x.documentNumber 

 FROM OPENXML ( @hdoc, '/Receivable', 1 ) WITH (

  documentNumber VARCHAR(20) '@documentNumber'

  ) AS x

 -- Release XML handle

 EXEC sp_xml_removedocument @hdoc

--SQL 2005 CODE

SELECT 

        x.header.value('@documentNumber[1]', 'varchar(20)') AS OrderNumber,

        x.header.value('Type[1]', 'varchar(20)') AS Typex2

    FROM @x.nodes('//Receivable') AS x(header)