Lack of Carriage Returns using XMLForest

Question

Hi People,
I'm using Oracle 9i Release 2 (Full Version 9.2.0.6.0), and am experimenting with the XMLforest function and SYS_XMLAGG.
I'm running a query based on the following table:
CREATE TABLE test_table(
job_id NUMBER(10),
date_created DATE
INSERT INTO test_table
SELECT ROWNUM AS job_id,
SYSDATE
FROM user_objects
WHERE rownum < 21;
COMMIT;
I'm running the following query against this table:
SELECT sys_xmlAgg( xmlElement( "JOB", xmlForest(job_id, date_created) ) )
FROM test_table;
The data returned by this query is coming out in the following layout:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ROWSET>
<JOB><JOB_ID>1</JOB_ID><DATE_CREATED>03/JUN/08</DATE_CREATED></JOB><JOB><JOB_ID>2</JOB_ID><DATE_CREATED>03/JUN/08</DATE_CREATED></JOB><JOB><JOB_ID>3</JOB_ID><DATE_CREATED>03/JUN/08</DATE_CREATED></JOB></ROWSET>
What I really want (for readability) is for each element to have a carriage return at the end of it, so I get the following:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ROWSET>
<JOB>
<JOB_ID>1</JOB_ID>
<DATE_CREATED>03/JUN/08</DATE_CREATED>
</JOB>
<JOB>
<JOB_ID>2</JOB_ID>
<DATE_CREATED>03/JUN/08</DATE_CREATED>
</JOB>
<JOB>
<JOB_ID>3</JOB_ID>
<DATE_CREATED>03/JUN/08</DATE_CREATED>
</JOB>
</ROWSET>
Is this possible in 9i Release 2, or will I only be able to get the concatenated string?
How can I force the XML elements to have carriage returns?
Thanks.
James

Answer 1

Bob,
The string literal 'chr(10)' will not help you much.
select 'mystring'||'chr(10)'||'mystring' from dual; -- returns 'mystringchr(10)mystring'
select 'mystring'|| chr(10) ||'mystring' from dual; -- returns 'mystring
mystring'Cheers,
Tyson Jouglet