Simple XML Non-interactive Export

Question

I'm looking for some advice on a simple approach to exporting entire tables (select * from X) in batch or non-interactive mode that we can schedule. We are competent in PL/SQL but not Java. Our files are approximately 50MB in size. We are confused because there are so many ways in Oracle to work with XML, and all we want to do is a basic export using only Oracle supplied packages (no 3rd party utilities) akin to how you'd do it in MS Access using export. Our environment is Oracle 10gR2 on Windows 2003.
thanks!

Answer 1

You could try something like. I'm not sure how well it would scale to 50MB but it's very simple so it should not take long to try
Basically
1. Use SQL/XML to create a view containing a single document that contains the information from all rows in the table.
2. Obtain a REF to the row in the view
3. Create a resource in the XML DB repository based on the REF
4. Use FTP to read the document from the XDB repository
SQL> create or replace view EMP_EXPORT_VIEW of XMLType
  2  with object id
  3  (
  4     'EMP'
  5  )
  6  as
  7  select xmlElement
  8         (
  9           "Table",
10           xmlAgg
11           (
12              xmlElement
13              (
14                "Row",
15                xmlForest(EMPNO,ENAME,JOB,MGR,HIREDATE,SAL,COMM,DEPTNO)
16              )
17           )
18         )
19    from EMP
20  /
View created.
SQL> set long 1000000
SQL> --
SQL> select * from EMP_EXPORT_VIEW
  2  /
SYS_NC_ROWINFO$
<Table><Row><EMPNO>7369</EMPNO><ENAME>SMITH</ENAME><JOB>CLERK</JOB><MGR>7902</MG
R><HIREDATE>1980-12-17</HIREDATE><SAL>800</SAL><DEPTNO>20</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EM
PNO>7499</EMPNO><ENAME>ALLEN</ENAME><JOB>SALESMAN</JOB><MGR>7698</MGR><HIREDATE>
1981-02-20</HIREDATE><SAL>1600</SAL><COMM>300</COMM><DEPTNO>30</DEPTNO></Row><Ro
w><EMPNO>7521</EMPNO><ENAME>WARD</ENAME><JOB>SALESMAN</JOB><MGR>7698</MGR><HIRED
ATE>1981-02-22</HIREDATE><SAL>1250</SAL><COMM>500</COMM><DEPTNO>30</DEPTNO></Row
<Row><EMPNO>7566</EMPNO><ENAME>JONES</ENAME><JOB>MANAGER</JOB><MGR>7839</MGR><HIREDATE>1981-04-02</HIREDATE><SAL>2975</SAL><DEPTNO>20</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO
7654</EMPNO><ENAME>MARTIN</ENAME><JOB>SALESMAN</JOB><MGR>7698</MGR><HIREDATE>1981-09-28</HIREDATE><SAL>1250</SAL><COMM>1400</COMM><DEPTNO>30</DEPTNO></Row><Row
<EMPNO>7698</EMPNO><ENAME>BLAKE</ENAME><JOB>MANAGER</JOB><MGR>7839</MGR><HIREDA
SYS_NC_ROWINFO$
TE>1981-05-01</HIREDATE><SAL>2850</SAL><DEPTNO>30</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7782
</EMPNO><ENAME>CLARK</ENAME><JOB>MANAGER</JOB><MGR>7839</MGR><HIREDATE>1981-06-0
9</HIREDATE><SAL>2450</SAL><DEPTNO>10</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7788</EMPNO><ENA
ME>SCOTT</ENAME><JOB>ANALYST</JOB><MGR>7566</MGR><HIREDATE>1987-04-19</HIREDATE>
<SAL>3000</SAL><DEPTNO>20</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7839</EMPNO><ENAME>KING</ENA
ME><JOB>PRESIDENT</JOB><HIREDATE>1981-11-17</HIREDATE><SAL>5000</SAL><DEPTNO>10<
/DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7844</EMPNO><ENAME>TURNER</ENAME><JOB>SALESMAN</JOB><M
GR>7698</MGR><HIREDATE>1981-09-08</HIREDATE><SAL>1500</SAL><COMM>0</COMM><DEPTNO
30</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7876</EMPNO><ENAME>ADAMS</ENAME><JOB>CLERK</JOB><MGR>7788</MGR><HIREDATE>1987-05-23</HIREDATE><SAL>1100</SAL><DEPTNO>20</DEPTNO></
Row><Row><EMPNO>7900</EMPNO><ENAME>JAMES</ENAME><JOB>CLERK</JOB><MGR>7698</MGR><
SYS_NC_ROWINFO$
HIREDATE>1981-12-03</HIREDATE><SAL>950</SAL><DEPTNO>30</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO
7902</EMPNO><ENAME>FORD</ENAME><JOB>ANALYST</JOB><MGR>7566</MGR><HIREDATE>1981-12-03</HIREDATE><SAL>3000</SAL><DEPTNO>20</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7934</EMPNO>
<ENAME>MILLER</ENAME><JOB>CLERK</JOB><MGR>7782</MGR><HIREDATE>1982-01-23</HIREDA
TE><SAL>1300</SAL><DEPTNO>10</DEPTNO></Row></Table>
SQL> declare
  2    res boolean;
  3    xmlRef REF XMLTYPE;
  4  begin
  5    select ref(x)
  6      into xmlREF
  7      from EMP_EXPORT_VIEW x;
  8    res := dbms_xdb.createResource('/public/EmpTableExport.xml',xmlREF);
  9  end;
10  /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL>
SQL>
SQL> quit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.2.0 - Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options
C:\xdb\bugs\clobtest>ftp
ftp> open localhost 2100
Connected to mdrake-lap.
220- mdrake-lap
Unauthorised use of this FTP server is prohibited and may be subject to civil and criminal prosecution.
220 mdrake-lap FTP Server (Oracle XML DB/Oracle Database) ready.
User (mdrake-lap:(none)):
530  Please login with USER and PASS.
Login failed.
ftp> user scott tiger
331 pass required for SCOTT
230 SCOTT logged in
ftp> cd public
250 CWD Command successful
ftp> ls -l
200 PORT Command successful
150 ASCII Data Connection
-rw-r--r--   1 SCOTT    oracle         0 FEB 16 15:27 EmpTableExport.xml
-rw-r--r--   1 INVALID_ oracle       630 JAN 31 19:44 newTestcase.xsd
-rw-r--r--   1 INVALID_ oracle       531 JAN 31 19:44 testcase.xsd
226 ASCII Transfer Complete
ftp: 213 bytes received in 0.03Seconds 6.87Kbytes/sec.
ftp> get EmpTableExport.xml -
200 PORT Command successful
150 ASCII Data Connection
<Table><Row><EMPNO>7369</EMPNO><ENAME>SMITH</ENAME><JOB>CLERK</JOB><MGR>7902</MGR><HIREDATE>1980-12-17</HIREDATE><SAL>800</SAL><DEPTNO>20</D
EPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7499</EMPNO><ENAME>ALLEN</ENAME><JOB>SALESMAN</JOB><MGR>7698</MGR><HIREDATE>1981-02-20</HIREDATE><SAL>1600</SAL><COM
M>300</COMM><DEPTNO>30</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7521</EMPNO><ENAME>WARD</ENAME><JOB>SALESMAN</JOB><MGR>7698</MGR><HIREDATE>1981-02-22</HIRE
DATE><SAL>1250</SAL><COMM>500</COMM><DEPTNO>30</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7566</EMPNO><ENAME>JONES</ENAME><JOB>MANAGER</JOB><MGR>7839</MGR><H
IREDATE>1981-04-02</HIREDATE><SAL>2975</SAL><DEPTNO>20</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7654</EMPNO><ENAME>MARTIN</ENAME><JOB>SALESMAN</JOB><MGR>76
98</MGR><HIREDATE>1981-09-28</HIREDATE><SAL>1250</SAL><COMM>1400</COMM><DEPTNO>30</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7698</EMPNO><ENAME>BLAKE</ENAME>
<JOB>MANAGER</JOB><MGR>7839</MGR><HIREDATE>1981-05-01</HIREDATE><SAL>2850</SAL><DEPTNO>30</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7782</EMPNO><ENAME>CLARK
</ENAME><JOB>MANAGER</JOB><MGR>7839</MGR><HIREDATE>1981-06-09</HIREDATE><SAL>2450</SAL><DEPTNO>10</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7788</EMPNO><ENA
ME>SCOTT</ENAME><JOB>ANALYST</JOB><MGR>7566</MGR><HIREDATE>1987-04-19</HIREDATE><SAL>3000</SAL><DEPTNO>20</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7839</EM
PNO><ENAME>KING</ENAME><JOB>PRESIDENT</JOB><HIREDATE>1981-11-17</HIREDATE><SAL>5000</SAL><DEPTNO>10</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7844</EMPNO><E
NAME>TURNER</ENAME><JOB>SALESMAN</JOB><MGR>7698</MGR><HIREDATE>1981-09-08</HIREDATE><SAL>1500</SAL><COMM>0</COMM><DEPTNO>30</DEPTNO></Row><R
ow><EMPNO>7876</EMPNO><ENAME>ADAMS</ENAME><JOB>CLERK</JOB><MGR>7788</MGR><HIREDATE>1987-05-23</HIREDATE><SAL>1100</SAL><DEPTNO>20</DEPTNO></
Row><Row><EMPNO>7900</EMPNO><ENAME>JAMES</ENAME><JOB>CLERK</JOB><MGR>7698</MGR><HIREDATE>1981-12-03</HIREDATE><SAL>950</SAL><DEPTNO>30</DEPT
NO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7902</EMPNO><ENAME>FORD</ENAME><JOB>ANALYST</JOB><MGR>7566</MGR><HIREDATE>1981-12-03</HIREDATE><SAL>3000</SAL><DEPTNO>2
0</DEPTNO></Row><Row><EMPNO>7934</EMPNO><ENAME>MILLER</ENAME><JOB>CLERK</JOB><MGR>7782</MGR><HIREDATE>1982-01-23</HIREDATE><SAL>1300</SAL><D
EPTNO>10</DEPTNO></Row></Table>226 ASCII Transfer Complete
ftp: 2131 bytes received in 0.00Seconds 2131000.00Kbytes/sec.
ftp> quit
221 QUIT Goodbye.Message was edited by:
mdrake