Oracle Compliance with SQL/XML

The XML data type in the standard is XML. The Oracle equivalent data type is XMLType. A feature of the standard is considered to be fully supported if the only difference between Oracle and the standard is the spelling of the data type name. Table C-3 describes Oracle’s support for the features of SQL/XML.

Table 3 Oracle Support for Features of SQL/XML

Feature ID, Feature Support
X010, XML type Oracle fully supports this feature.
X011, Arrays of XML types Oracle supports this feature using named array types
X012, Multisets of XML type The Oracle equivalent of a multiset of XML type is a nested table with a single column of XML type.
X013, Distinct types of XML A distinct type can be emulated using an object type with a single attribute.
X014, Attributes of XML type In Oracle, attributes of object types may be of type XMLType, but the syntax for creating object types is nonstandard.
X015, Fields of XML type Oracle object types may be used instead of row types; Oracle supports object types with attributes of XMLType.
X016, Persistent XML values Oracle fully supports this feature.
X020, XMLConcat Oracle fully supports this feature.
X025, XMLCast

Oracle supports this feature, with the following restrictions:

  • The source expression must be of XMLType and the target data type may not be XMLType. (Since Oracle has only one XML type, there is no need to cast from XML to XML.)

  • Oracle does not support ; the behavior is the same as BY VALUE in the standard.

Oracle extends this feature with the ability to cast to type REF XMLTYPE.

X031, XMLElement Oracle fully supports this feature.
X032, XMLForest Oracle fully supports this feature.
X034, XMLAgg Oracle fully supports this feature.
X035, XMLAgg: ORDER BY option Oracle fully supports this feature.
X036, XMLComment Oracle fully supports this feature.
X036, XMLPi Oracle fully supports this feature.
X038, XMLText The Oracle XMLCData function may be used to create a text node.
X040, Basic table mapping

Oracle table mappings are available through a Java interface and through a package. Oracle table mappings have been generalized to map queries and not just tables. To map only a table: SELECT * FROM table_name. This provides support for the following elements of this feature:

  • X041, Basic table mapping: null absent

  • X042, Basic table mapping: null as nil

  • X043, Basic table mapping: table as forest

  • X044, Basic table mapping: table as element

  • X045, Basic table mapping: with target namespace

  • X046, Basic table mapping: data mapping

  • X047, Basic table mapping: metadata mapping

  • X049, Basic table mapping: hex encoding

Oracle does not support the following element of this feature:

  • X048, Basic table mapping: base64 encoding
X041, Basic table mapping: null absent See X040.
X042, Basic table mapping: null as nil See X040.
X043, Basic table mapping: table as forest See X040.
X044, Basic table mapping: table as element See X040.
X045, Basic table mapping: with target namespace See X040.
X046, Basic table mapping: data mapping See X040.
X047, Basic table mapping: metadata mapping See X040.
X049, Basic table mapping: hex encoding See X040.
X060, XMLParse: Character string input and CONTENT option Oracle does not support the {PRESERVE | STRIP} WHITESPACE syntax. The behavior is always STRIP WHITESPACE.
X061, XMLParse: Character string input and DOCUMENT option Oracle does not support the {PRESERVE | STRIP} WHITESPACE syntax. The behavior is always STRIP WHITESPACE.
X069, XMLSERIALIZE: INDENT Oracle extends this feature with the ability to specify an indent size.
X070, XMLSerialize: Character string serialization and CONTENT option

Oracle supports this feature, with this restriction:

  • In the standard, the choice of DOCUMENT or CONTENT is optional; in Oracle, you must specify one of these.

Oracle extends this feature as follows: the standard requires a target data type; Oracle defaults to CLOB.

X071, XMLSerialize: Character string serialization and DOCUMENT option Oracle fully supports this feature.
X072, XMLSerialize: Character string serialization Oracle fully supports this feature.
X073, XMLSerialize: BLOB serialization and CONTENT option Oracle fully supports this feature.
X074, XMLSerialize: BLOB serialization and DOCUMENT option Oracle fully supports this feature.
X075, XMLSerialize: BLOB serialization Oracle fully supports this feature.
X076, XMLSerialize: VERSION option Use XMLRoot to set the XML version prior to serialization.
X077, XMLSerialize: explicit ENCODING option Oracle fully supports this feature.
X080, Namespaces in XML publishing In the Oracle implementation of XMLElement, XMLAttributes are used to define namespaces (XMLNamespaces is not implemented). However, XMLAttributes is not supported for XMLForest.
X086, XML namespace declarations in XMLTable Oracle fully supports this feature.
X090, XML document predicate In Oracle, you can test whether an XML value is a document by using the ISFRAGMENT method.
X096, XMLExists Oracle fully supports this feature, with this exception: Oracle only supports passing by value, so the keywords BY VALUE are optional at the beginning of the PASSING clause, and not supported on individual arguments.
X120, XML parameters in SQL routines Oracle fully supports this feature.
X121, XML parameters in external routines Oracle supports XML values passed to external routines using a non-standard interface.
X141, IS VALID predicate: data drive case The XMLISVALID method is equivalent to the IS VALID predicate, and supports the data-driven case.
X142, IS VALID predicate: ACCORDING TO clause The XMLISVALID method is equivalent to the IS VALID predicate, and includes the equivalent of the ACCORDING TO clause.
X143, IS VALID predicate: ELEMENT clause The XMLISVALID method is equivalent to the IS VALID predicate, and includes the equivalent of the ELEMENT clause.
X144, IS VALID predicate: schema location The XMLISVALID method is equivalent to the IS VALID predicate, and supports the specification of a schema location for a registered XML Schema.
X145, IS VALID predicate outside check constraints The XMLISVALID method is equivalent to the IS VALID predicate, and may be used outside check constraints.
X151, IS VALID predicate with DOCUMENT option The XMLISVALID method is equivalent to the IS VALID predicate, and performs validation equivalent to the DOCUMENT clause. (XMLISVALID does not support “content” validation.)
X156, IS VALID predicate: optional NAMESPACE with ELEMENT clause The XMLISVALID method is equivalent to the IS VALID predicate, and may be used to validate against an element in any namespace.
X157, IS VALID predicate: NO NAMESPACE with ELEMENT clause The XMLISVALID method is equivalent to the IS VALID predicate, and may be used to validate against an element in the “no name” namespace.
X160, Basic Information Schema for registered XML Schemas The Oracle static data dictionary view ALL_XML_SCHEMAS provides a list of the registered XML schemas that are accessible to the current user. The ALL_XML_SCHEMAS.SCHEMA_URL column corresponds to the standard XML_SCHEMAS.XML_SCHEMA_LOCATION column. The target namespace of the registered XML Schemas can be learned by examining ALL_XML_SCHEMAS.SCHEMA. Oracle has no equivalents for the other columns of the standard’s XML_SCHEMAS.
X161, Advanced Information Schema for registered XML Schemas Oracle does not have static data dictionary views corresponding to XML_SCHEMA_NAMESPACES and XML_SCHEMA_ELEMENTS in the standard. However, all the information about registered XML Schemas may be learned by examining the actual XML Schema, which is found in the ALL_XML_SCHEMAS.SCHEMA column. This may also be examined to learn whether a registered XML Schema is nondeterministic, and which of its namespaces and elements are nondeterministic.
X191, XML(DOCUMENT (XMLSCHEMA)) type Oracle does not support this syntax. However, a column of a table can be constrained by a registered XML Schema, in which case all values of the column will be of XML(DOCUMENT(XMLSCHEMA)) type.
X200, XMLQuery

Oracle fully supports the following elements of this feature:

  • X201, XMLQuery: RETURNING CONTENT

  • X203, XMLQuery: passing a context item

  • X204, XMLQuery: initializing an XQuery variable

  • X206, XMLQuery: NULL ON EMPTY option

Oracle only supports passing by value, so the keywords BY VALUE are optional at the beginning of the PASSING clause, and not supported on individual arguments.

X201, XMLQuery: RETURNING CONTENT See X200.
X203, XMLQuery: passing a context item See X200.
X204, XMLQuery: initializing an XQuery variable See X200.
X206, XMLQuery: NULL ON EMPTY option See X200.
X221, XML passing mechanism BY VALUE Oracle supports the BY VALUE clause in XMLQuery, XMLTable and XMLExists. In these, BY VALUE is supported as optional syntax at the beginning of an argument list, but not as a modifier on an individual argument or column.
X232, XML(CONTENT(ANY)) type Oracle does not support this syntax as a type modifier, but the Oracle XMLType supports this data type for transient values. Persistent values are of type XML(DOCUMENT(ANY)), which is a subset of XML(CONTENT(ANY)).
X241, RETURNING CONTENT in XML publishing Oracle does not support this syntax. In Oracle, the behavior of the publishing functions (XMLAgg, XMLComment, XMLConcat, XMLElement, XMLForest, and XMLPi) is always RETURNING CONTENT.
X251, Persistent XML values of XML(DOCUMENT(UNTYPED)) type Oracle fully supports this feature.
X252, Persistent values of type XML(DOCUMENT(ANY)) Oracle fully supports this feature.
X256, Persistent values of XML(DOCUMENT(XMLSCHEMA)) type Oracle fully supports this feature.
X260, XML type, ELEMENT clause Oracle does not support this syntax. However, a column of a table may be constrained by a top-level element in a registered XML Schema.
X263, XML type: NO NAMESPACE with ELEMENT clause Oracle does not support this syntax. However, a column of a table may be constrained by a top-level element in the “no name” namespace of a registered XML Schema.
X264, XML type: schema location Oracle does not support this syntax. However, a column of a table may be constrained by a registered XML Schema that is identified by a schema location.
X271, XMLValidate: data driven case The SCHEMAVALIDATE method is equivalent to XMLValidate, and supports the data-driven case.
X272, XMLValidate: ACCORDING TO clause The SCHEMAVALIDATE method is equivalent to XMLValidate, and may be used to specify a particular registered XML Schema.
X273, XMLValidate: ELEMENT clause The SCHEMAVALIDATE method is equivalent to XMLValidate, and may be used to specify a particular element of a particular registered XML Schema.
X274, XMLValidate: schema location The SCHEMAVALIDATE method is equivalent to XMLValidate, and may be used to specify a particular registered XML Schema by its schema location URL.
X281, XMLValidate with DOCUMENT option The SCHEMAVALIDATE method is equivalent to XMLValidate. SCHEMAVALIDATE performs validation only of XML documents (not content).
X286, XMLValidate: NO NAMESPACE with ELEMENT clause The SCHEMAVALIDATE method is equivalent to XMLValidate, and may be used to specify a particular element in the “no name” namespace of a particular registered XML Schema.
X300, XMLTable

Oracle does not support reverse axes in the column path expressions. Aside from that restriction, Oracle fully supports the following elements of this feature:

  • X086, XML namespace declarations in XMLTable

  • X302, XMLTable with ordinality column

  • X303, XMLTable: column default option

  • X304, XMLTable: passing a context item

  • X305, XMLTable: initializing an XQuery variable

Oracle only supports passing by value, so the keywords BY VALUE are optional at the beginning of the PASSING clause, and not supported on individual arguments.

X302, XMLTable with ordinality column See X300.
X303, XMLTable: column default option See X300.
X304, XMLTable: passing a context item See X300.
X305, XMLTable: initializing an XQuery variable See X300.