SQL to XML : Introduction « XML « Oracle PL/SQL Tutorial






Generating XML from "Ordinary" Tables

Oracle provides a function, XMLElement, that transforms data into XML format.

The function takes two arguments ?a the tag name and the data. Consider this example:

SQL> -- create demo table
SQL> create table Employee(
  2    ID                 VARCHAR2(4 BYTE)         NOT NULL,
  3    First_Name         VARCHAR2(10 BYTE),
  4    Last_Name          VARCHAR2(10 BYTE),
  5    Start_Date         DATE,
  6    End_Date           DATE,
  7    Salary             Number(8,2),
  8    City               VARCHAR2(10 BYTE),
  9    Description        VARCHAR2(15 BYTE)
 10  )
 11  /

Table created.

SQL>
SQL> -- prepare data
SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary,  City,       Description)
  2               values ('01','Jason',    'Martin',  to_date('19960725','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('20060725','YYYYMMDD'), 1234.56, 'Toronto',  'Programmer')
  3  /

1 row created.

SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary,  City,       Description)
  2                values('02','Alison',   'Mathews', to_date('19760321','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('19860221','YYYYMMDD'), 6661.78, 'Vancouver','Tester')
  3  /

1 row created.

SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary,  City,       Description)
  2                values('03','James',    'Smith',   to_date('19781212','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('19900315','YYYYMMDD'), 6544.78, 'Vancouver','Tester')
  3  /

1 row created.

SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary,  City,       Description)
  2                values('04','Celia',    'Rice',    to_date('19821024','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('19990421','YYYYMMDD'), 2344.78, 'Vancouver','Manager')
  3  /

1 row created.

SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary,  City,       Description)
  2                values('05','Robert',   'Black',   to_date('19840115','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('19980808','YYYYMMDD'), 2334.78, 'Vancouver','Tester')
  3  /

1 row created.

SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary, City,        Description)
  2                values('06','Linda',    'Green',   to_date('19870730','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('19960104','YYYYMMDD'), 4322.78,'New York',  'Tester')
  3  /

1 row created.

SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary, City,        Description)
  2                values('07','David',    'Larry',   to_date('19901231','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('19980212','YYYYMMDD'), 7897.78,'New York',  'Manager')
  3  /

1 row created.

SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary, City,        Description)
  2                values('08','James',    'Cat',     to_date('19960917','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('20020415','YYYYMMDD'), 1232.78,'Vancouver', 'Tester')
  3  /

1 row created.

SQL>
SQL>
SQL>
SQL> -- display data in the table
SQL> select * from Employee
  2  /

ID   FIRST_NAME           LAST_NAME            START_DAT END_DATE      SALARY CITY       DESCRIPTION
---- -------------------- -------------------- --------- --------- ---------- ---------- ---------------
01   Jason                Martin               25-JUL-96 25-JUL-06    1234.56 Toronto    Programmer
02   Alison               Mathews              21-MAR-76 21-FEB-86    6661.78 Vancouver  Tester
03   James                Smith                12-DEC-78 15-MAR-90    6544.78 Vancouver  Tester
04   Celia                Rice                 24-OCT-82 21-APR-99    2344.78 Vancouver  Manager
05   Robert               Black                15-JAN-84 08-AUG-98    2334.78 Vancouver  Tester
06   Linda                Green                30-JUL-87 04-JAN-96    4322.78 New York   Tester
07   David                Larry                31-DEC-90 12-FEB-98    7897.78 New York   Manager
08   James                Cat                  17-SEP-96 15-APR-02    1232.78 Vancouver  Tester

8 rows selected.

SQL>
SQL>
SQL> SELECT xmlelement("Name",first_name), xmlelement("ID",id),
  2    xmlelement("City", city)
  3  FROM employee;

XMLELEMENT("NAME",FIRST_NAME)        XMLELEMENT("ID",ID)             XMLELEMENT("CITY",CITY)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<Name>Jason</Name>                   <ID>01</ID>                     <City>Toronto</City>
<Name>Alison</Name>                  <ID>02</ID>                     <City>Vancouver</City>
<Name>James</Name>                   <ID>03</ID>                     <City>Vancouver</City>
<Name>Celia</Name>                   <ID>04</ID>                     <City>Vancouver</City>
<Name>Robert</Name>                  <ID>05</ID>                     <City>Vancouver</City>
<Name>Linda</Name>                   <ID>06</ID>                     <City>New York</City>
<Name>David</Name>                   <ID>07</ID>                     <City>New York</City>
<Name>James</Name>                   <ID>08</ID>                     <City>Vancouver</City>


8 rows selected.

SQL>
SQL>
SQL> -- clean the table
SQL> drop table Employee
  2  /

Table dropped.

SQL>
SQL>








33.1.Introduction
33.1.1.SQL to XML
33.1.2.Create a table to hold the simple "Hello World" XML document
33.1.3.Create table based on single data type
33.1.4.Create table myTable of xmltype
33.1.5.Use Aggregrate functions on XML data
33.1.6.Use Text() function to get text value from xml string
33.1.7.xmlagg and xmlforest
33.1.8.Without the text() operator, returns node name + text value