Error when generating XML

Question

Hi, I am trying to generate an XML file using the code below and receive the following error;
failed ORA-31011: XML parsing failed
ORA-19202: Error occurred in XML processing
LPX-00231: invalid character 60 ('<') found in a Name or Nmtoken
Error at line 47102066
The code inside the procedure is:
xml_result xmltype;
doc        dbms_xmldom.DOMDocument;
ctx DBMS_XMLGEN.ctxHandle;
vv_exit_code varchar2(5);
vv_ctx_open varchar2(1) := 'N';
  BEGIN
vv_exit_code := 'XML1';
  ctx := dbms_xmlgen.newcontext(p_sql);
  vv_ctx_open := 'Y';
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(vv_exit_code);
vv_exit_code := 'XML2';
  DBMS_XMLGEN.SETCONVERTSPECIALCHARS (ctx,TRUE);
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(vv_exit_code);
  vv_exit_code := 'XML3';
xml_result := dbms_xmlgen.getXMLType(ctx);
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(vv_exit_code);
IF xml_result is not null THEN
     vv_exit_code := 'XML4';
     doc := dbms_xmldom.newDOMDocument(xml_result);
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(vv_exit_code);
     vv_exit_code := 'XML5';
     dbms_xmldom.writeToFile(doc,p_dir||'/'||p_fileName, 'ISO-8859-1');
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(vv_exit_code);
     vv_exit_code := 'XML6';
     dbms_xmldom.freeDocument(doc);
     p_xml_created := 'TRUE';
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(vv_exit_code);
ELSE
    p_xml_created := 'FALSE';
END IF;
DBMS_XMLGEN.CLOSECONTEXT (ctx);
vv_ctx_open := 'N';
EXCEPTION
     WHEN out_of_process_memory THEN
    IF vv_ctx_open = 'Y' THEN
        DBMS_XMLGEN.CLOSECONTEXT (ctx);
    END IF;
    gv_err_msg := substr(sqlerrm,1,2000);
    DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(gv_process_name||' failed '||gv_err_msg);
    RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR(-20906,gv_process_name||' failed'||gv_err_msg);
      dbms_output.put_line('XML_EXPORT failed (out_of_process_memory exception) executing '||p_sql);
      raise_application_error(-20906,'XML_EXPORT (out_of_process_memory exception) failed executing '||p_sql);
    WHEN OTHERS THEN
    IF vv_ctx_open = 'Y' THEN
        DBMS_XMLGEN.CLOSECONTEXT (ctx);
    END IF;
    if xml_result is NULL then
          gv_err_msg := substr(sqlerrm,1,2000);
    DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(gv_process_name||' failed '||gv_err_msg);
    RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR(-20906,gv_process_name||' failed'||gv_err_msg);
          dbms_output.put_line('XML_EXPORT failed (xml results are NULL) executing '||p_sql);
          raise_application_error(-20906,'XML_EXPORT (xml results are NULL) failed executing '||p_sql);
    else
    gv_err_msg := substr(sqlerrm,1,2000);
    DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(gv_process_name||' failed '||gv_err_msg);
      dbms_output.put_line('XML_EXPORT failed (others exception) executing '||p_sql);
      DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('Export Directory is: '||p_dir||'/'||p_fileName);
      raise_application_error(-20906,'XML_EXPORT (others exception) failed executing '||p_sql);
end if;
I have run the p_sql separately and have no issue. The p_sql is select * from <viewname> where date_id > '20100901' and date_id < '20100930'; (For security reasons I am choosing to leave off specific table/view/column names). I have run this procedure with other date ranges and it works for all the views we are using. I have examined all freeform data (data entered by the user without restriction) and none has a '>' in it during this time period.

Answer 1

All the column names are valid XML names as this returned for other date ranges (as stated). The oracle version is 11G. This code is encapsulated in a function with the following signature:
PROCEDURE sql_to_xml(p_sql IN VARCHAR2, p_fileName IN VARCHAR2, p_dir IN VARCHAR2, p_xml_created OUT VARCHAR2)
To test, I have been calling the package with the sql as I indicated originally, a filename, the unix directory to write to, and a global out variable. Again, as I originally stated, this has been run successfully for other date ranges for the same table, but only fails in a specific range.
As for the issue with the line number it isn't a copy paste error at all. My total code for this package has 84 lines (including comments etc) (i removed function signature when quoting the code above). The line error message confused me as well, which was part of what I hoped someone else who had done XML exporting would know of. My assumption was that the line number was the line of the XML file, not the code. However because it fails it won't create the XML server onto the directory so I cannot view it and see easily where it breaks.
You are correct that line 52 makes 54 and 55 useless. I think that was a relic of a previous version and I forgot to remove 52. I did so and will see if the below error is raised.
I forgot to state that the DBMS_OUTPUT does show XML3 indicating that either XML_RESULT is null or that it breaks at line 19 (because DBMS_OUTPUT never prints XML4). Because you caught the issue with line 52-55, that may be why the null error never was being raised. I am rerunning to verify that xml_result is not null (ie: the null exception raised from the if on line 49 does not trigger).