1. PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference
  2. DBMS_XMLPARSER

206 DBMS_XMLPARSER

Using DBMS_XMLPARSER, you can access the contents and structure of XML documents. XML describes a class of data XML document objects. It partially describes the behavior of computer programs which process them. By construction, XML documents are conforming SGML documents.

XML documents are made up of storage units called entities, which contain either parsed or unparsed data. Parsed data is made up of characters, some of which form character data, and some of which form markup. Markup encodes a description of the document's storage layout and logical structure. XML provides a mechanism to impose constraints on the storage layout and logical structure.

A software module called an XML processor is used to read XML documents and provide access to their content and structure. It is assumed that an XML processor is doing its work on behalf of another module, called the application. This PL/SQL implementation of the XML processor (or parser) follows the W3C XML specification REC-xml-19980210 and includes the required behavior of an XML processor in terms of how it must read XML data and the information it must provide to the application.

The default behavior for this PL/SQL XML parser is to build a parse tree that can be accessed by DOM APIs, validate it if a DTD is found (otherwise, it is non-validating), and record errors if an error log is specified. If parsing fails, an application error is raised.

This chapter contains the following topics:

See Also:

Oracle XML DB Developer’s Guide

206.1 DBMS_XMLPARSER Security Model

Owned by XDB, the DBMS_XMLPARSER package must be created by SYS or XDB. The EXECUTE privilege is granted to PUBLIC.

Subprograms in this package are executed using the privileges of the current user.

206.2 Summary of DBMS_XMLPARSER Subprograms

This table lists the DBMS_XMLPARSER subprograms and briefly describes them.

Table 206-1 DBMS_XMLPARSER Package Subprograms

Method Description

FREEPARSER

Frees a parser object.

GETDOCTYPE

Gets parsed DTD.

GETDOCUMENT

Gets DOM document.

GETRELEASEVERSION

Returns the release version of Oracle XML Parser for PL/SQL.

GETVALIDATIONMODE

Returns validation mode.

NEWPARSER

Returns a new parser instance

PARSE

Parses XML stored in the given url/file.

PARSEBUFFER

Parses XML stored in the given buffer

PARSECLOB

Parses XML stored in the given clob

PARSEDTD

Parses DTD stored in the given url/file

PARSEDTDBUFFER

Parses DTD stored in the given buffer

PARSEDTDCLOB

Parses DTD stored in the given clob

SETBASEDIR

Sets base directory used to resolve relative URLs.

SETDOCTYPE

Sets DTD.

SETERRORLOG

Sets errors to be sent to the specified file

SETPRESERVEWHITESPACE

Sets white space preserve mode

SETVALIDATIONMODE

Sets validation mode.

SHOWWARNINGS

Turns warnings on or off.

206.2.1 FREEPARSER

This procedures frees a parser object.

Syntax

PROCEDURE freeParser(
    p Parser);

Parameters

Table 206-2 FREEPARSER Procedure Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

206.2.2 GETDOCTYPE

The GETDOCTYPE function returns the parsed DTD. This function must be called only after a DTD is parsed.

Syntax

FUNCTION getDoctype(
  p Parser)
RETURN DOMDocumentType;

Parameters

Table 206-3 GETDOCTYPE Function Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

206.2.3 GETDOCUMENT

GETDOCUMENT returns the document node of a DOM tree document built by the parser. This function must be called only after a document is parsed.

Syntax

FUNCTION GETDOCUMENT(
  p Parser)
RETURN DOMDocument;

Parameters

Table 206-4 GETDOCUMENT Function Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

206.2.4 GETRELEASEVERSION

GETRELEASEVERSION returns the release version of the Oracle XML parser for PL/SQL.

Syntax

FUNCTION getReleaseVersion
RETURN VARCHAR2;

206.2.5 GETVALIDATIONMODE

The GETVALIDATIONMODE function retrieves the validation mode: TRUE for validating, FALSE otherwise.

Syntax

FUNCTION GETVALIDATIONMODE(
  p Parser)
RETURN BOOLEAN;

Parameters

Table 206-5 GETVALIDATIONMODE Function Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

206.2.6 NEWPARSER

This function returns a new parser instance.

This function must be called before the default behavior of Parser can be changed and if other parse methods need to be used.

Syntax

FUNCTION newParser 
RETURN Parser;

206.2.7 PARSE

PARSE parses XML stored in the given URL or file. An application error is raised if parsing fails.

There are several versions of this method.

Syntax

Function. Use this when the default parser behavior is acceptable, and only a URL or file needs to be parsed. Returns the built DOM document.

FUNCTION parse(url VARCHAR2)
RETURN DOMDocument;

Procedure. Any changes to the default parser behavior should be effected before calling this procedure.

PROCEDURE parse(
  p Parser,
  url VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Table 206-6 PARSE Subprogram Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

url

(IN)

Complete path of the url/file to be parsed.

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

206.2.8 PARSEBUFFER

PARSEBUFFER parses XML stored in the given buffer.

Any changes to the default parser behavior should be effected before calling this procedure. An application error is raised if parsing fails.

Syntax

PROCEDURE PARSEBUFFER(
  p   Parser,
doc VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Table 206-7 PARSEBUFFER Procedure Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

doc

(IN)

XML document buffer to parse.

206.2.9 PARSECLOB

PARSECLOB parses XML stored in the given clob.

Any changes to the default parser behavior should be effected before calling this procedure. An application error is raised if parsing fails.

Syntax

PROCEDURE PARSECLOB(
  p   Parser,
doc CLOB);

Parameters

Table 206-8 PARSECLOB Procedure Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

doc

(IN)

XML document buffer to parse.

206.2.10 PARSEDTD

PARSEDTD parses the DTD stored in the given URL or file.

Any changes to the default parser behavior should be effected before calling this procedure. An application error is raised if parsing fails.

Syntax

PROCEDURE PARSEDTD(
  p     Parser,
  url   VARCHAR2,
  root  VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Table 206-9 PARSEDTD Procedure Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

url

(IN)

Complete path of the URL or file to be parsed.

root

(IN)

Name of the root element.

206.2.11 PARSEDTDBUFFER

PARSEDTDBUFFER parses the DTD stored in the given buffer.

Any changes to the default parser behavior should be effected before calling this procedure. An application error is raised if parsing fails.

Syntax

PROCEDURE PARSEDTDBUFFER(
  p    Parser,
  dtd  VARCHAR2,
  root VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Table 206-10 PARSEDTDBUFFER Procedure Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

dtd

(IN)

DTD buffer to parse.

root

(IN)

Name of the root element.

206.2.12 PARSEDTDCLOB

PARSEDTDCLOB parses the DTD stored in the given clob.

Any changes to the default parser behavior should be effected before calling this procedure. An application error is raised if parsing fails.

Syntax

PROCEDURE PARSEDTDCLOB(
  p    Parser,
  dtd  CLOB,
  root VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Table 206-11 PARSEDTDCLOB Procedure Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

dtd

(IN)

DTD Clob to parse.

root

(IN)

Name of the root element.

206.2.13 SETBASEDIR

This procedure sets the base directory used to resolve relative URLs. An application error is raised if parsing fails.

Syntax

PROCEDURE setBaseDir(
  p   Parser,
  dir VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Table 206-12 SETBASEDIR Procedure Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

dir

(IN)

Directory used as a base directory.

206.2.14 SETDOCTYPE Procedure

This procedure sets a DTD to be used by the parser for validation. This call should be made before the document is parsed.

Syntax

PROCEDURE setDoctype(
  p   Parser,
  dtd DOMDocumentType);

Parameters

Table 206-13 SETDOCTYPE Procedure Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

dtd

(IN)

DTD to set.

206.2.15 SETERRORLOG Procedure

This procedure sets errors to be sent to the specified file.

Syntax

PROCEDURE setErrorLog(
  p        Parser,
  fileName VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Table 206-14 SETERRORLOG Procedure Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

fileName

(IN)

Complete path of the file to use as the error log.

206.2.16 SETPRESERVEWHITESPACE

This procedure sets whitespace preserving mode.

Syntax

PROCEDURE setPreserveWhitespace(
  p   Parser,
  yes BOOLEAN);

Parameters

Table 206-15 SETPRESERVEWHITESPACE Procedure Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

yes

(IN)

Mode to set: TRUE - preserve, FALSE - don't preserve.

206.2.17 SETVALIDATIONMODE

This procedure sets the validation mode.

Syntax

PROCEDURE setValidationMode(
  p   Parser,
  yes BOOLEAN);

Parameters

Table 206-16 SETVALIDATIONMODE Procedure Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

yes

(IN)

Mode to set: TRUE - validate, FALSE - don't validate.

206.2.18 SHOWWARNINGS

This procedure turns warnings on or off.

Syntax

PROCEDURE showWarnings(
  p   Parser,
  yes BOOLEAN);

Paramters

Table 206-17 SHOWWARNINGS Procedure Parameters

Parameter IN / OUT Description

p

(IN)

Parser instance.

yes

(IN)

Mode to set: TRUE - show warnings, FALSE - don't show warnings.