Display sql output in xml format

Question

Hi,
We are using Oracle 9i. I want to display output of a sql query as xml format.
I noticed EXTRACT function in SQL does this. Can anyone please explain XMLType instance and XPath string parameters of this function.
All of my table columns are NUMBER/VARCHAR2 data types and the table is also NOT a XML Type. Please let me know the solution.
Thanks.

Answer 1

SQL> select dbms_xmlquery.getxml('select * from scott.emp where rownum < 3') from dual ;
DBMS_XMLQUERY.GETXML('SELECT*FROMSCOTT.EMPWHEREROWNUM<3')
<?xml version = '1.0'?>
<ROWSET>
   <ROW num="1">
      <EMPNO>7369</EMPNO>
      <ENAME>SMITH</ENAME>
      <JOB>CLERK</JOB>
      <MGR>7902</MGR>
      <HIREDATE>12/17/1980 0:0:0</HIREDATE>
      <SAL>800</SAL>
      <DEPTNO>20</DEPTNO>
   </ROW>
   <ROW num="2">
      <EMPNO>7499</EMPNO>
      <ENAME>ALLEN</ENAME>
      <JOB>SALESMAN</JOB>
      <MGR>7698</MGR>
      <HIREDATE>2/20/1981 0:0:0</HIREDATE>
      <SAL>1600</SAL>
      <COMM>304</COMM>
      <DEPTNO>30</DEPTNO>
   </ROW>
</ROWSET>
1 row selected.
SQL> select XMLType(dbms_xmlquery.getxml('select * from scott.emp where rownum < 3')).extract('/ROWSET/ROW[@num = "2"]/ENAME/text()').getStringVal() from dual ;
XMLTYPE(DBMS_XMLQUERY.GETXML('SELECT*FROMSCOTT.EMPWHEREROWNUM<3')).EXTRACT('/ROWSET/ROW[@NUM="2"]/ENAME/TEXT()').GETSTRINGVAL()
ALLEN
1 row selected.
SQL>