Creating XML report using PL/SQL Stored Procedure

Question

Hi Friends,
I am working on an xml report with the xml source as PL/SQL Stored Procedure.
I am referring the exercise shown in the following link to understand the process:
   http://orclapp.blogspot.com/2012/02/developing-xml-publisher-report-using.html
In the example shown in the above link I could not understand the following:
1) In the following procedure, the out parameter 'retcode' is not used at all.
   What is the importance of this parameter.
    PROCEDURE REPORT (errbuf  OUT VARCHAR2, retcode  OUT VARCHAR2, p_product_id   IN     NUMBER)
2)  After the xml data is prepared and put to 'l_result' Clob variable, the following
    Loop is executed. I am not able to appreciate why the following loop is required.
     LOOP
         EXIT WHEN l_length = l_retrieved;
         IF (l_length - l_retrieved) < 32000
         THEN
            SELECT SUBSTR (l_result, l_retrieved + 1) INTO l_xmlstr FROM DUAL;
            l_retrieved := l_length;
            fnd_file.put_line (fnd_file.output, l_xmlstr);
         ELSE
            SELECT SUBSTR (l_result, l_retrieved + 1, l_offset)
              INTO l_xmlstr
              FROM DUAL;
            l_retrieved := l_retrieved + l_offset;
            fnd_file.put_line (fnd_file.output, l_xmlstr);
         END IF;
     END LOOP;
3) In the example it is not explained how the concurrent program gets the xml data?
   I assume it is written to a file using the following line of code:
    fnd_file.put_line (fnd_file.output, l_xmlstr);
   I would appreciate if anyone can throw some light into my above queries so that I can understand the process clearly.
Thanks & Regards
Hawker

Answer 1

Hi 32000 in the code is a 'safe' size smaller than the max available 32767, the loops purpose is to move through the entire thing in chunks that will be manageable in the limits of the data type.
Btw; if you are in Oracle e-business suite then you can also use Oracle reports very simply to create XML output.
If you have reports developer all you need to do is put raw sql (without any 'artifice' to create XML) in the report SQL and then set the reports output to XML in the program definition in Oracle e-business.
best regards,
Robert.