TOOBJECT

The TOOBJECT member procedure maps the XML content in an XMLType instance to a PL/SQL object instance, that is, it deserializes the XML into a PL/SQL object according to its object type structure. It can be used together with DBMS_XMLDOM.GETXMLTYPE: first construct or parse the XML using DOM, then convert it to an XMLType, and finally map it to a PL/SQL object.

Syntax

MEMBER PROCEDURE toObject(
   SELF IN XMLTYPE,
   object OUT NOCOPY <object_type>);

Parameters

Return value

No return value; the result is written to object.

Usage instructions

• The object type structure of object must match the XML content. If the types do not match or the XML is invalid, an error will be reported at runtime.
• Ensure the target object type has been created in the current schema before calling.

Examples

The following example maps an XML snippet corresponding to an object type structure into a PL/SQL object instance. Replace SOME_OBJECT_TYPE with the actual object type name.

DECLARE
  x XMLTYPE;
  target_obj SOME_OBJECT_TYPE;
BEGIN
  x := XMLTYPE('<SOME_OBJECT_TYPE><FIELD1>hello</FIELD1></SOME_OBJECT_TYPE>');
  x.toObject(target_obj);
END;
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