Nested XML Output in PL/SQL

Question

I need to generate XML that looks like this:
<Person>
<Name>
<FirstName>IMA</FirstName>
<MiddleName>ANOTHER</MiddleName>
<LastName>TEST</LastName>
<BirthDate>04/05/1982</BirthDate>
</Name>
<IDDetails>
<SSNID>234-23-3333</SSNID>
<OtherID>19781</OtherID>
</IDDetails>
<PhysicalDetails>
<Weight>145</Weight>
<EyeColor>BLUE</EyeColor>
<HairColor></HairColor>
<Sex>FEMALE</Sex>
<Race>BLACK</Race>
<SkinToneText></SkinTone>
</PhysicalDetails>
<SocialDetails>
<Ethnicity>UNKNOWN</Ethnicity>
<Language>ENGLISH</Language>
</SocialDetails>
<Address>
<Street>123 Somewhere Street</Street>
<City>AnyWhere</City>
<State>Confusion</State>
<Zip>99999</Zip>
</Address>
</Person>
I was able to sucessfully generate it in SQL by creating a view using this code:
create or replace view person_xml_view as
select
xmlelement("Person",
xmlelement("Name",
xmlelement("FirstName", first_name),
xmlelement("MiddleName",middle_name),
xmlelement("LastName",last_name),
xmlelement("BirthDate",to_char(date_of_birth,''MM/DD/YYYY''))),
xmlelement("IDDetails",
xmlelement("SSN",b.external_number),
xmlelement("OtherID",a.mni)),
xmlelement("PhysicalDetails",
xmlelement("Weight",a.weight),
xmlelement("EyeColor",a.eye_color),
xmlelement("HairColor",a.hair_color),
xmlelement("Sex",a.sex),
xmlelement("Race",a.race),
xmlelement("SkinTone",a.skin_tone)),
xmlelement("SocialDetails",
xmlelement("Ethnicity",ethnicity),
xmlelement("Language",language)),
xmlelement("Address",
xmlelement("Street",c.address),
xmlelement("City",c.city),
xmlelement("State",c.state),
xmlelement("Zip",c.zip)))
as result from
names a,
numbers b,
addresses c
where
(a.mni = b.mni (+) AND
b.number_type (+) = 'SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER') AND
(a.mni = c.mni (+) AND
c.current_address_flag (+)= 'T') AND
a.MNI = 19781);
My end goal is to write a function that returns the XML back to the caller, but when I the dbms_xmlgen I can't get the sub-tags to be inserted correctly. Here's the code as it is today:
FUNCTION GETXML
( v_pk IN Number)
RETURN xmltype as out xmltype;
ctx dbms_xmlgen.ctxhandle;
BEGIN
ctx := dbms_xmlgen.newcontext('select a.first_name as "FirstName",
a.middle_name as "MiddleName",
a.last_name as "LastName",
to_char(a.date_of_birth,''MM/DD/YYYY'') AS "BirthDate",
b.external_number as "SSNID",
a.mni as "OtherID",
a.weight as "Weight",
a.eye_color as "EyeColor",
a.hair_color as "HairColor",
a.sex as "Sex",
a.race as "Race",
a.skin_tone as "SkinTone",
a.ethnicity as "Ethnicity",
a.language as "Language",
c.address as "Street",
c.city as "City",
c.state as "State",
c.zip as "Zip"
from
names a,
numbers b,
addresses c
where
(a.mni = b.mni (+) AND
b.number_type (+) = ''SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER'') AND
(a.mni = c.mni (+) AND
c.current_address_flag (+)= ''T'') AND
a.MNI = '||V_MNI);
dbms_xmlgen.setrowsettag(ctx,'Person');
dbms_xmlgen.setrowtag(ctx,'Name');
dbms_xmlgen.setrowtag(ctx,'IDDetails');
dbms_xmlgen.setrowtag(ctx,'PhysicalDetails');
dbms_xmlgen.setrowtag(ctx,'SocialDetails');
dbms_xmlgen.setrowtag(ctx,'Address');
out := dbms_xmlgen.getxmltype(ctx);
dbms_xmlgen.closecontext(ctx);
return out;
END;
How do you do the nested tags?

Answer 1

Hi,
Here is simple way of genrating nested XML.
FUNCTION GETXML
( v_pk IN Number)
RETURN sys.XMLType
CURSOR C1
IS
xmlelement("Person",
xmlelement("Name",
xmlforest(first_name as "FirstName",
middle_name as "MiddleName",
last_name as "LastName",
to_char(date_of_birth,''MM/DD/YYYY'') as"BirthDate"),
xmlelement("IDDetails",
xmlforest(b.external_number as "SSN",
a.mni as "OtherID")),
xmlelement("PhysicalDetails",
xmlforest(a.weight as "Weight",
a.eye_color as "EyeColor",
a.hair_color as "HairColor",
a.sex as "Sex",
a.race as "Race",
a.skin_tone as "SkinTone")),
xmlelement("SocialDetails",
xmlforest(ethnicity as "Ethnicity",
language as "Language")),
xmlelement("Address",
xmlforest(c.address as "Street",
c.city as "City",
c.state as "State",
c.zip as "Zip")) as result
from
names a,
numbers b,
addresses c
where
(a.mni = b.mni (+) AND
b.number_type (+) = 'SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER') AND
(a.mni = c.mni (+) AND
c.current_address_flag (+)= 'T') AND
a.MNI = 19781);
v_xml sys.XMLType
BEGIN
open c1;
fetch c1 into v_xml;
close c1;
return v_xml;
END
In short use xmlforest to genrate inner child tags.