9.3.XML Column Type

Virtuoso allows for native XML storage in a database table column using the LONG XML type. This data type is a variation of LONG VARCHAR that can have plain text or XML entities, persistent or non-persistent values, but will always return an XML entity when selected.

Since ODBC does not support an XML entity type this column will appear as a LONG VARCHAR when selected from ODBC based clients.

Example9.15.Using LONG XML Columns

CREATE TABLE xml_col_test (
  id INTEGER,
  txt VARCHAR,
  xmltxt LONG XML
  )
  ;

  INSERT INTO xml_col_test (id, txt, xmltxt)
    VALUES (1, 'test', '<xml><test>test</test><test>test2</test></xml>');

  INSERT INTO xml_col_test (id, txt, xmltxt)
    VALUES (2, 'test', xml_tree_doc('<xml><test>test</test><test>test2</test></xml>'));

  select * from xml_col_test;
id          txt               xmltxt
INTEGER     VARCHAR           LONG VARCHAR
____________________________________________________________________________

1           test              <xml><test>test</test><test>test2</test></xml>
2           test              <xml><test>test</test><test>test2</test></xml>

[Tip] See Also:

The xml_tree_doc() also returns an XML entity and describes other functions that work with it.