Load XML records in a normal table

Question

Good afternoon all,
I have a very simple question:
I get a XML file and want to store that data in my Oracle database in a normal table.
I have seen so many answers everywhere, varying from LOBs and using XDB etc.
What i don't understand is why it is so difficult.
When i want to load a CSV file in a table I make a very small Control File CTL and from the command prompt / command line I run the SQL Loader.
Control file:
load data
infile 'import.csv'
into table emp
fields terminated by "," optionally enclosed by '"'          
( empno, empname, sal, deptno )
command:
sqlldr user/password@SID control=loader_Control_File.ctl
Next I connect to the database and run SQL query:
select * from emp;
and i see my data as usual, I can make Crystal Reports on it, etc etc
I really don't understand why this can't be done with an XML file
Oracle know the fields in the table EMP
The xml file has around every field the <EMPNO> and </EMPNO>
Can't be easier than that I would say.
I can understand Oracle likes some kind of description of the XML table, so reference to a XSD file would be understandable.
But all examples are describing LOB things (whatever that is)
Who can help me to get XML data in a normal table?
Thanks
Frank

Answer 1

Hi Frank,
What i don't understand is why it is so difficult.Why do you think that?
An SQL*Loader control file might appear very small and simple to you, but you don't actually see what happens inside the loader itself, I guess a lot of complex operations (parsing, datatype mapping, memory allocation etc.).
XML, contrary to a CSV format, is a structured, well standardized language and could handle far more complex documents than row-organized CSV files.
I think it naturally requires a few extra work (for a developer) to describe what we want to do out of it.
However, using an XML schema is not mandatory to load XML data into a relational table.
It's useful if you're interested in high-performance loading and scalability, as it allows Oracle to fully understand the XML data model it has to deal with, and make the correct mapping with SQL types in the database.
Furthermore, now with 11g BINARY XMLType, performance has been improved with or without schema.
Here's a simple example, loading XML file "import.xml" into table MY_EMP.
Do you find it difficult? ;)
SQL> create or replace directory test_dir as 'D:\ORACLE\test';
Directory created
SQL> create table my_emp as
  2  select empno, ename, sal, deptno
  3  from scott.emp
  4  where 1 = 0
  5  ;
Table created
SQL> insert into my_emp (empno, ename, sal, deptno)
  2  select *
  3  from xmltable('/ROWSET/ROW'
  4         passing xmltype(bfilename('TEST_DIR', 'import.xml'), nls_charset_id('CHAR_CS'))
  5         columns empno  number(4)    path 'EMPNO',
  6                 ename  varchar2(10) path 'ENAME',
  7                 sal    number(7,2)  path 'SAL',
  8                 deptno number(2)    path 'DEPTNO'
  9       )
10  ;
14 rows inserted
SQL> select * from my_emp;
EMPNO ENAME            SAL DEPTNO
7369 SMITH         800.00     20
7499 ALLEN        1600.00     30
7521 WARD         1250.00     30
7566 JONES        2975.00     20
7654 MARTIN       1250.00     30
7698 BLAKE        2850.00     30
7782 CLARK        2450.00     10
7788 SCOTT        3000.00     20
7839 KING         5000.00     10
7844 TURNER       1500.00     30
7876 ADAMS        1100.00     20
7900 JAMES         950.00     30
7902 FORD         3000.00     20
7934 MILLER       1300.00     10
14 rows selected
import.xml :
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ROWSET>
<ROW>
  <EMPNO>7369</EMPNO>
  <ENAME>SMITH</ENAME>
  <SAL>800</SAL>
  <DEPTNO>20</DEPTNO>
</ROW>
<ROW>
  <EMPNO>7499</EMPNO>
  <ENAME>ALLEN</ENAME>
  <SAL>1600</SAL>
  <DEPTNO>30</DEPTNO>
</ROW>
<!-- more rows here -->
<ROW>
  <EMPNO>7934</EMPNO>
  <ENAME>MILLER</ENAME>
  <SAL>1300</SAL>
  <DEPTNO>10</DEPTNO>
</ROW>
</ROWSET>
Who can help me to get XML data in a normal table?If you have a specific example, feel free to post it, including the following information :
- structure of the target table
- sample XML file
- database version (select * from v$version)
Hope that helps.
Edited by: odie_63 on 9 mars 2011 21:22