This chapter describes the SQL functions and XMLType
APIs for transforming XMLType
data using XSLT style sheets. It also explains the various functions and APIs available for validating the XMLType
instance against an XML schema.
This chapter contains these topics:
XML documents have structure but no format. To add format to the XML documents you can use Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL). XSL provides a way of displaying XML semantics. It can map XML elements into other formatting or mark-up languages such as HTML.
In Oracle XML DB, XMLType
instances or XML data stored in XMLType
tables, columns, or views in Oracle Database, can be (formatted) transformed into HTML, XML, and other mark-up languages, using XSL style sheets and the XMLType
function, transform(). This process conforms to the W3C XSL Transformations 1.0 Recommendation.
XMLType
instance can be transformed in the following ways:
Using SQL function XMLtransform
(or XMLType
method transform()
) in the database.
Using XDK transformation options in the middle tier, such as XSLT Processor for Java.
Note:
The PL/SQL packageDBMS_XSLPROCESSOR
provides a convenient and efficient way of applying a single style sheet to multiple documents. The performance of this package will be better than transform()
because the style sheet will be parsed only once.See Also:
Chapter 3, "Using Oracle XML DB", the section, "XSL Transformation and Oracle XML DB"
Oracle XML Developer's Kit Programmer's Guide, the chapter on XSQL Pages Publishing Framework
Figure 9-1 shows the syntax of SQL function XMLtransform
. This function takes as arguments an XMLType
instance and an XSLT style sheet (which is itself an XMLType
instance). It applies the style sheet to the instance and returns an XMLType
instance.
You can alternatively use XMLType
method transform()
as an alternative to SQL function XMLtransform
; it has the same functionality.
Figure 9-2 shows how XMLtransform
transforms an XML document by using an XSLT style sheet. It returns the processed output as XML, HTML, and so on, as specified by the XSLT style sheet. You typically use XMLtransform
when retrieving or generating XML documents stored as XMLType
in the database.
The examples in this section illustrate how to use SQL function XMLtransform
and XMLType method transform()
to transform XML data stored as XMLType
to various formats.
Example 9-1 Registering XML Schema and Inserting XML Data
This example sets up the XML schema and tables needed to run other examples in this chapter. (The call to deleteSchema
here ensures that there is no existing XML schema before creating one. If no such schema exists, then deleteSchema
produces an error.)
BEGIN -- Delete the schema, if it already exists; otherwise, this produces an error. DBMS_XMLSCHEMA.deleteSchema('http://www.example.com/schemas/ipo.xsd',4); END; / BEGIN -- Register the schema DBMS_XMLSCHEMA.registerSchema('http://www.example.com/schemas/ipo.xsd', '<schema targetNamespace="http://www.example.com/IPO" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:ipo="http://www.example.com/IPO"> <!-- annotation> <documentation> International Purchase order schema for Example.com Copyright 2000 Example.com. All rights reserved. </documentation> </annotation --> <element name="purchaseOrder" type="ipo:PurchaseOrderType"/> <element name="comment" type="string"/> <complexType name="PurchaseOrderType"> <sequence> <element name="shipTo" type="ipo:Address"/> <element name="billTo" type="ipo:Address"/> <element ref="ipo:comment" minOccurs="0"/> <element name="items" type="ipo:Items"/> </sequence> <attribute name="orderDate" type="date"/> </complexType> <complexType name="Items"> <sequence> <element name="item" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"> <complexType> <sequence> <element name="productName" type="string"/> <element name="quantity"> <simpleType> <restriction base="positiveInteger"> <maxExclusive value="100"/> </restriction> </simpleType> </element> <element name="USPrice" type="decimal"/> <element ref="ipo:comment" minOccurs="0"/> <element name="shipDate" type="date" minOccurs="0"/> </sequence> <attribute name="partNum" type="ipo:SKU" use="required"/> </complexType> </element> </sequence> </complexType> <complexType name="Address"> <sequence> <element name="name" type="string"/> <element name="street" type="string"/> <element name="city" type="string"/> <element name="state" type="string"/> <element name="country" type="string"/> <element name="zip" type="string"/> </sequence> </complexType> <simpleType name="SKU"> <restriction base="string"> <pattern value="[0-9]{3}-[A-Z]{2}"/> </restriction> </simpleType> </schema>', TRUE, TRUE, FALSE); END; / -- Create table to hold XML instance documents DROP TABLE po_tab; CREATE TABLE po_tab (id NUMBER, xmlcol XMLType) XMLType COLUMN xmlcol XMLSCHEMA "http://www.example.com/schemas/ipo.xsd" ELEMENT "purchaseOrder"; INSERT INTO po_tab VALUES(1, XMLType( '<?xml version="1.0"?> <ipo:purchaseOrder xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:ipo="http://www.example.com/IPO" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.example.com/IPO http://www.example.com/schemas/ipo.xsd" orderDate="1999-12-01"> <shipTo> <name>Helen Zoe</name> <street>121 Broadway</street> <city>Cardiff</city> <state>Wales</state> <country>UK</country> <zip>CF2 1QJ</zip> </shipTo> <billTo> <name>Robert Smith</name> <street>8 Oak Avenue</street> <city>Old Town</city> <state>CA</state> <country>US</country> <zip>95819</zip> </billTo> <items> <item partNum="833-AA"> <productName>Lapis necklace</productName> <quantity>1</quantity> <USPrice>99.95</USPrice> <ipo:comment>Want this for the holidays!</ipo:comment> <shipDate>1999-12-05</shipDate> </item> </items> </ipo:purchaseOrder>'));
Example 9-2 Using XMLTRANSFORM and DBURITYPE to Retrieve a Style Sheet
DBURIType
is described in Chapter 19, "Accessing Data Through URIs".
DROP TABLE stylesheet_tab; CREATE TABLE stylesheet_tab(id NUMBER, stylesheet XMLType); INSERT INTO stylesheet_tab VALUES (1, XMLType( '<?xml version="1.0" ?> <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"> <xsl:template match="*"> <td> <xsl:choose> <xsl:when test="count(child::*) > 1"> <xsl:call-template name="nested"/> </xsl:when> <xsl:otherwise> <xsl:value-of select="name(.)"/>:<xsl:value-of select="text()"/> </xsl:otherwise> </xsl:choose> </td> </xsl:template> <xsl:template match="*" name="nested" priority="-1" mode="nested2"> <b> <!-- xsl:value-of select="count(child::*)"/ --> <xsl:choose> <xsl:when test="count(child::*) > 1"> <xsl:value-of select="name(.)"/>:<xsl:apply-templates mode="nested2"/> </xsl:when> <xsl:otherwise> <xsl:value-of select="name(.)"/>:<xsl:value-of select="text()"/> </xsl:otherwise> </xsl:choose> </b> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet>')); SELECT XMLtransform(x.xmlcol, DBURIType('/XDB/STYLESHEET_TAB/ROW [ID=1]/STYLESHEET/text()').getXML()).getStringVal() AS result FROM po_tab x;
This produces the following output (pretty-printed here for readability):
RESULT --------------------------------------------------------- <td> <b>ipo:purchaseOrder: <b>shipTo: <b>name:Helen Zoe</b> <b>street:100 Broadway</b> <b>city:Cardiff</b> <b>state:Wales</b> <b>country:UK</b> <b>zip:CF2 1QJ</b> </b> <b>billTo: <b>name:Robert Smith</b> <b>street:8 Oak Avenue</b> <b>city:Old Town</b> <b>state:CA</b> <b>country:US</b> <b>zip:95819</b> </b> <b>items:</b> </b> </td>
Example 9-3 Using XMLTRANSFORM and a Subquery to Retrieve a Style Sheet
This example illustrates the use of a stored style sheet to transform XMLType
instances. Unlike the previous example, this example uses a scalar subquery to retrieve the stored style sheet:
SELECT XMLtransform(x.xmlcol, (SELECT stylesheet FROM stylesheet_tab WHERE id = 1)).getStringVal() AS result FROM po_tab x;
Example 9-4 Using XMLType.transform() with a Transient Style Sheet
This example transforms an XMLType
instance using a transient style sheet:
SELECT x.xmlcol.transform(XMLType( '<?xml version="1.0" ?> <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"> <xsl:template match="*"> <td> <xsl:choose> <xsl:when test="count(child::*) > 1"> <xsl:call-template name="nested"/> </xsl:when> <xsl:otherwise> <xsl:value-of select="name(.)"/>:<xsl:value-of select="text()"/> </xsl:otherwise> </xsl:choose> </td> </xsl:template> <xsl:template match="*" name="nested" priority="-1" mode="nested2"> <b> <!-- xsl:value-of select="count(child::*)"/ --> <xsl:choose> <xsl:when test="count(child::*) > 1"> <xsl:value-of select="name(.)"/>:<xsl:apply-templates mode="nested2"/> </xsl:when> <xsl:otherwise> <xsl:value-of select="name(.)"/>:<xsl:value-of select="text()"/> </xsl:otherwise> </xsl:choose> </b> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet>' )).getStringVal() FROM po_tab x;
Often, besides knowing that a particular XML document is well-formed, it is necessary to know if a particular document conforms to a specific XML schema, that is, is VALID with respect to a specific XML schema.
By default, the database checks to ensure that XMLType
instances are well-formed. In addition, for schema-based XMLType instances, the database performs few basic validation checks. Because full XML schema validation (as specified by the W3C) is an expensive operation, when XMLType
instances are constructed, stored, or retrieved, they are not also fully validated.
To validate and manipulate the validation status of XML documents, the following functions and procedures are provided:
PL/SQL function XMLIsValid
checks if the input instance conforms to a specified XML schema. It does not change the validation status of the XML instance. If an XML schema URL is not specified and the XML document is schema-based, the conformance is checked against the own schema of the XMLType
instance. If any of the arguments are specified to be NULL
, then the result is NULL
. If validation fails, then 0 is returned and no errors are reported explaining why the validation has failed.
XMLIsValid (XMLType_inst [, schemaurl [, elem]])
Parameters:
XMLType_inst
- The XMLType
instance to be validated against the specified XML schema.
schurl
- The URL of the XML schema against which to check conformance.
elem
- Element of a specified schema, against which to validate. This is useful when we have a XML schema which defines more than one top level element, and we want to check conformance against a specific one of these elements.
PL/SQL procedure schemaValidate
validates an XML instance against its XML schema if it has not already been done. For non-schema-based documents an error is raised. If validation fails an error is raised otherwise, then the document status is changed to VALIDATED
.
MEMBER PROCEDURE schemaValidate
PL/SQL function isSchemaValidated
returns the validation status of the XMLType
instance and tells if a schema-based instance has been actually validated against its schema. It returns 1 if the instance has been validated against the schema, 0 otherwise.
MEMBER FUNCTION isSchemaValidated return NUMBER deterministic
PL/SQL procedure setSchemaValidated
sets the VALIDATION state of the input XML instance.
MEMBER PROCEDURE setSchemaValidated(flag IN BINARY_INTEGER := 1)
Parameters:
flag
, 0 - not validated; 1 - validated; The default value is 1.
PL/SQL function isSchemaValid
checks if the input instance conforms to a specified XML schema. It does not change the validation status of the XML instance. If an XML schema URL is not specified and the XML document is schema-based, then the conformance is checked against the own schema of the XMLType
instance. If the validation fails, then exceptions are thrown with the reason why the validation has failed.
MEMBER FUNCTION isSchemaValid(schurl IN VARCHAR2 := NULL, elem IN VARCHAR2 := NULL) RETURN NUMBER DETERMINISTIC
Parameters:
schurl
- The URL of the XML schema against which to check conformance.
elem
- Element of a specified schema, against which to validate. This is useful when we have an XML schema which defines more than one top level element, and we want to check conformance against a specific one of these elements.
The following examples illustrate how to use isSchemaValid,
setSchemaValidated
, and isSchemaValidated
to validate XML data being stored as XMLType
in Oracle XML DB.
Example 9-5 Using isSchemaValid()
SELECT x.xmlcol.isSchemaValid('http://www.example.com/schemas/ipo.xsd', 'purchaseOrder') FROM po_tab x;
Example 9-6 Validating XML Using isSchemaValid()
The following PL/SQL example validates an XML instance against XML schema PO.xsd
:
DECLARE xmldoc XMLType; BEGIN -- Populate xmldoc (for example, by fetching from table). -- Validate against XML schema xmldoc.isSchemaValid('http://www.oracle.com/PO.xsd'); IF xmldoc.isSchemaValid = 1 THEN -- ELSE -- END IF; END;
Example 9-7 Using schemaValidate() Within Triggers
XMLType
method schemaValidate()
can be used within INSERT
and UPDATE TRIGGERS
to ensure that all instances stored in the table are validated against the XML schema:
DROP TABLE po_tab; CREATE TABLE po_tab OF XMLType XMLSCHEMA "http://www.example.com/schemas/ipo.xsd" ELEMENT "purchaseOrder"; CREATE TRIGGER emp_trig BEFORE INSERT OR UPDATE ON po_tab FOR EACH ROW DECLARE newxml XMLType; BEGIn newxml := :new.OBJECT_VALUE; XMLTYPE.schemavalidate(newxml); END; /
Verify that the XMLType
instance conforms to the specified XML schema
Ensure that the incoming XML documents are valid by using CHECK constraints
DROP TABLE po_tab; CREATE TABLE po_tab OF XMLType (CHECK (XMLIsValid(OBJECT_VALUE) = 1)) XMLSCHEMA "http://www.example.com/schemas/ipo.xsd" ELEMENT "purchaseOrder";
Note:
The validation functions and procedures described in the preceding section facilitate validation checking. Of these,isSchemaValid
is the only one that throws errors that indicate why the validation has failed.