I'm currently using this disaster to locate recent deadlocks by reading the system_health Extended Events ring buffer.

select top 2000000000
      XEvent.value('@timestamp', 'datetime2(3)') as CreationDateUtc,
      --
      -- Extract the <deadlock>...</deadlock> tag from within the event
      -- Todo: Surely there is a better (xml) way to do this.
      --
      substring(convert(varchar(max), XEvent.query('.')), 
          -- start
          patindex('%<deadlock%', convert(varchar(max), XEvent.query('.'))),          
          -- end
          patindex('%</deadlock%', convert(varchar(max), XEvent.query('.'))) -
              patindex('%<deadlock%', convert(varchar(max), XEvent.query('.'))) + 11 -- 11 to include for '</deadlock>'
          ) AS XdlFile
 from 
    (
      select cast (target_data as xml) as TargetData
        from sys.dm_xe_session_targets st with (nolock)
        join sys.dm_xe_sessions s with (nolock)
          on s.address = st.event_session_address
       where [name] = 'system_health'
         and st.target_name = N'ring_buffer'
    ) as Data
 cross apply TargetData.nodes('RingBufferTarget/event[@name="xml_deadlock_report"]') AS XEventData (XEvent)
 order by CreationDateUtc desc

It works fine however the events don't seem to hang around very long (like 24 hours?) I guess this is the "ring buffer" part of it. Now I stumbled onto a link that was reading the system_health "file" which has similar information:

select event_data = CONVERT(XML, event_data) 
from sys.fn_xe_file_target_read_file(N'system_health*.xel', NULL, NULL, NULL)
where event_data like '%xml_deadlock%'  

Is this file the same as the ring buffer but just stays around longer? Any disadvantages to using a file? Does anyone with some XML skills want to convert the top script?

The goal is to copy/paste the XdlFile field into a new file and read it directly into SSMS or Sql Sentry Plan Explorer using "File Open".

Ring Buffer Links:

https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/details/754115/xevents-system-health-does-not-catch-all-deadlocks#tabs

https://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/jonathan/why-i-hate-the-ring_buffer-target-in-extended-events/

http://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/jonathan/multi-victim-deadlocks/

https://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/jonathan/graphically-viewing-extended-events-deadlock-graphs/

http://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/1234/capturing-sql-server-deadlock-information-in-xml-format/

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqldatabasetalk/archive/2013/05/01/tracking-down-deadlocks-in-sql-database.aspx

Deadlock error isn't returning the deadlock SQL

File:

https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/3636/query-data-from-extended-events-in-sql-server/

@@version = Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (SP3-CU5) (KB3180915) - 11.0.6544.0 (X64)