Need to read parent tag data even if child fragment doesnot have data

Question

Hi, I am using Binary method of XML Storage,
Here is my Oracle installation details
Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.3.0 - 64bit Production
PL/SQL Release 11.2.0.3.0 - Production
"CORE 11.2.0.3.0 Production"
XML Structure Details ---> The provided sample xml has repetitive Party tag under which a PolicyNumber tag might be present, under the Party tag a AddressList may or not be present.
I have 3 such Party tags, the first one has no PolicyNumber tag altough the AddressList tag and has multiple Adress under the same, the second Party tag has the PolicyNumber however it doesnot have the AdressList data in it, 3rd party tag is irrelevant for this issue.
What i want to acheive ---> Even though there are no Address present for the PolicyNumber tag i want PolicyNumber to appear in my result set, since the PolicyNumber's Party tag doesnot have a Address tag i guess the result set is ignoring the PolicyNumber in the final result set.
In a nut shell i need all these data i cannot miss the PolicyNumber neither the Address
Please go through the XML and the subsequent query for further assitance
Inserting a sample XML
INSERT INTO XML_TEST
VALUES
(XMLTYPE('<?xml version="1.0"; ?>
<workfile>
<claimnumber>abcdefgh</claimnumber>
<Party>
<AutoInsurancePolicy>
<AddressList>
<Address>
<Address1>data1 goes here</Address1>
<Address2>data1 goes here</Address2>
</Address>
<Address>
<Address1>data2 goes here</Address1>
<Address2>data2 goes here</Address2>
</Address>
</AddressList>
</AutoInsurancePolicy>
</Party>
<Party>
<AutoInsurancePolicy>
<PolicyNumber>123456</PolicyNumber>
</AutoInsurancePolicy>
</Party>
<Party>
<AutoInsurancePolicy>
<ContactList>
<ContactNumber>
<Phone>917656723</Phone>
</ContactNumber>
</ContactList>
</AutoInsurancePolicy>
</Party>
</workfile>
Query that i am using to extract CLAIM, PolicyNumber and Corresponding Addresses
select
m.CLAIM,
n.PolicyNumber,
l.ADDRESS_1,
l.ADDRESS_2
from XML_TEST,
xmltable(
'$WK/workfile' passing XMLDATA as "WK"
columns
CLAIM VARCHAR2 (4000) PATH 'claimnumber',
Party_fragment XMLTYPE PATH 'Party'
) m,
XMLTABLE(
'$PY/Party' passing m.Party_fragment as "PY"
columns
PolicyNumber VARCHAR2 (4000) PATH 'AutoInsurancePolicy/PolicyNumber',
Address_Fragment XMLTYPE PATH 'AutoInsurancePolicy/AddressList/Address'
) n,
XMLTABLE(
'$AD/Address' passing n.Address_Fragment as "AD"
columns
ADDRESS_1 VARCHAR2 (4000) PATH 'Address1',
ADDRESS_2 VARCHAR2 (4000) PATH 'Address2'
) l;
But this query returns no PolicyNumber, since the address under the Party node where the PolicyNumber is present does not have a corresponding Address value
Heres the result set returned:-
CLAIM POLICY_NUMBER Address1 Address2
abcdefgh <NULL> data1 goes here data1 goes here
abcdefgh <NULL> data2 goes here data2 goes here
Is there a way to specify to the above query to fetch all the data even if its corresponding Address fragment does not have data against the tag.
Result set that i want to acheive:-
CLAIM POLICY_NUMBER Address1 Address2
abcdefgh 123456 <NULL> <NULL>
abcdefgh <NULL> data1 goes here data1 goes here
abcdefgh <NULL> data2 goes here data2 goes here
Regards,
Arghyadip
Edited by: beta32c on May 9, 2013 2:06 AM

Answer 1

beta32c wrote:
Howver i think i am unable to express my problems correctly , let me try again i need both the policynumber and the address details in my result set No problem, you expressed your problem correctly, and the query I've suggested should have worked.
However, there seems to have a bug when the outer join is only used at the deepest level.
Try with outer joins at every level :
SQL> select m.CLAIM,
  2         n.PolicyNumber,
  3         l.ADDRESS_1,
  4         l.ADDRESS_2
  5  from XML_TEST,
  6       xmltable(
  7         '$WK/workfile' passing XMLDATA as "WK"
  8         columns
  9           CLAIM VARCHAR2 (4000) PATH   'claimnumber',
10           Party_fragment XMLTYPE PATH 'Party'
11       ) (+) m,
12       XMLTABLE(
13         '$PY/Party' passing m.Party_fragment as "PY"
14         columns
15           PolicyNumber VARCHAR2 (4000) PATH  'AutoInsurancePolicy/PolicyNumber',
16           Address_Fragment XMLTYPE PATH 'AutoInsurancePolicy/AddressList/Address'
17       ) (+) n,
18       XMLTABLE(
19         '$AD/Address' passing n.Address_Fragment as "AD"
20         columns
21           ADDRESS_1 VARCHAR2 (4000) PATH 'Address1',
22           ADDRESS_2 VARCHAR2 (4000) PATH 'Address2'
23       ) (+) l
24  ;
CLAIM        POLICYNUMBER    ADDRESS_1          ADDRESS_2
abcdefgh                     data1 goes here    data1 goes here
abcdefgh                     data2 goes here    data2 goes here
abcdefgh     123456                            
abcdefgh