XML dynamic editing. Please Help

Question

I have an XML file being returned back from a function.
This function is called twice,there by returning back
2 XML which are then added together and returned
as a CLOB.
sdiXML CLOB;
xml1   VARCHAR2(250);
xml2   VARCHAR2(250);
xml1 = createXML(.....);  // function using DBMS_XMLQuery to create XML
XML2 = createXML(.....);  // ""
sdiXML = appendXML(xml1,xml2);Code for function appendXML is:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION append_xml(
        clob1 IN OUT CLOB,
        clob2  IN OUT CLOB)
RETURN CLOB
AS
BEGIN
  DBMS_LOB.APPEND(clob1,clob2);
  RETURN Dest_clob;
END;All works fine.
I get 2 outputs integrated into one CLOB.
<?xml version = '1.0'?>                                                       
<SDIEXTRACT>                                                                  
      <SDIOWNER>THEIRS</SDIOWNER>                                             
      <CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>N</CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>                                
</SDIEXTRACT>
<?xml version = '10'?>                                                       
<SDIEXTRACT>                                                                  
      <SDIOWNER>OURS</SDIOWNER>                                               
      <CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>N</CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>                                
</SDIEXTRACT>     
     Now,the problem is that when I try to open the this file in an XML Editor,
this displays the error 'XML not well formed'.
So I need to delete the 1st XML's </SDIEXTRACT> and the 2nd XML's <xml version..>
and <SDIEXTRACT> manually, so that the XML looks like and which is well formed.
<?xml version = '1.0'?>                                                       
<SDIEXTRACT>                                                                  
      <SDIOWNER>THEIRS</SDIOWNER>                                             
      <CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>N</CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>                                
      <SDIOWNER>OURS</SDIOWNER>                                               
      <CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>N</CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>                                
</SDIEXTRACT>      Is there a way by which I can merge these 2 docs toegther as a WELL FORMED thru the
application itself without the hassle of manually editing the XML code?
Has anyone understood my point?
Please suggest an option.

Answer 1

SQL> CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION merge_xml RETURN CLOB IS
  2      --
  3      -- Merge XML2 into XML1 and return the result
  4      --
  5      xml1 CLOB := '<?xml version = ''1.0''?>' || '<SDIEXTRACT>' || '<SDI>' ||
  6                   '      <SDIOWNER>THEIRS</SDIOWNER>' ||
  7                   '      <CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>N</CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>' || '</SDI>' ||
  8                   '</SDIEXTRACT>';
  9
10      xml2 CLOB := '<?xml version = ''1.0''?>' || '<SDIEXTRACT>' || '<SDI>' ||
11                   '     <SDIOWNER>OURS</SDIOWNER>' ||
12                   '     <CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>N</CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>' || '</SDI>' ||
13                   '<SDI>' || '    <SDIOWNER>YOURS</SDIOWNER>' ||
14                   '    <CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>H</CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>' || '</SDI>' ||
15                   '</SDIEXTRACT>';
16
17      dom1  xmldom.DOMDocument;
18      dom2  xmldom.DOMDocument;
19      p     xmlparser.Parser;
20      n     xmldom.DOMNode;
21      nn    xmldom.DOMNode;
22      t_lob CLOB;
23  BEGIN
24      p := xmlparser.newParser;
25      xmlparser.parseClob(p   => p,
26                          doc => xml1);
27      dom1 := xmlparser.getDocument(p => p);
28
29      xmlparser.parseClob(p   => p,
30                          doc => xml2);
31      dom2 := xmlparser.getDocument(p => p);
32      xmlparser.freeParser(p => p);
33
34      n := xmldom.getFirstChild(n => xmldom.makeNode(xmldom.getDocumentElement(doc => dom2)));
35      WHILE (NOT xmldom.isNull(n))
36      LOOP
37          nn := xmldom.importNode(n       => dom1,
38                                  srcNode => n,
39                                  deep    => TRUE);
40          nn := xmldom.appendChild(xmldom.makeNode(xmldom.getDocumentElement(doc => dom1)),
41                                   nn);
42          n  := xmldom.getNextSibling(n => n);
43      END LOOP;
44      dbms_lob.createtemporary(lob_loc => t_lob,
45                               cache   => TRUE);
46      xmldom.writeToClob(dom1,
47                         t_lob);
48      xmldom.freeDocument(doc => dom1);
49      xmldom.freeDocument(doc => dom2);
50      RETURN(t_lob);
51  END;
52  /
Function created.
SQL> SHOW ERRORS
No errors.
SQL> SELECT merge_xml FROM dual ;
MERGE_XML
<?xml version = '1.0'?>
<SDIEXTRACT>
   <SDI>
      <SDIOWNER>THEIRS</SDIOWNER>
      <CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>N</CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>
   </SDI>
   <SDI>
      <SDIOWNER>OURS</SDIOWNER>
      <CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>N</CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>
   </SDI>
   <SDI>
      <SDIOWNER>YOURS</SDIOWNER>
      <CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>H</CONFIRM_ONLY_FLAG>
   </SDI>
</SDIEXTRACT>
1 row selected.
SQL>