> Peter Eisentraut <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > I also think that psql is not the place to implement something like this. > > Agreed. > > > It's most likely best put in the backend, as a function like > > xmlfoo('select * from t1;')
> That seems a little bizarre. Wouldn't we want to have a switch that > just flips the SELECT output format from one style to the other? Ah, but this approach has the merit that it doesn't require pushing out a completely new set of tools. > This is also a good time to stop and ask whether the frontend/backend > protocol needs to change to support this. Not having read the spec, I > have no idea what the low-level transport needs are for XML output, > but I suspect our present protocol is not it ... That could be; there's enough variation in what one might want to do with XML that it is not trivial to suggest an 'ideal' answer. We have already seen the proposal of: <record a="b" c="d" e="f"> <record a="c" c="e" e="g"> <record a="d" c="f" e="h"> <record a="e" c="g" e="i"> I would rather prefer something like: <tablea> <record> <a>b</a> <c>d</c> <e>f</e> </record> <record> <a>c</a> <c>d</c> <e>f</e> </record> <record> <a>d</a> <c>d</c> <e>f</e> </record> <tablea> (Note that both approaches are quite rational possibilities.) I'd think that the "protocol" would involve passing back a row-as-string for each row in the result set. -- output = ("cbbrowne" "@cbbrowne.com") http://www.ntlug.org/~cbbrowne/xml.html "There are two major products that come out of Berkeley: LSD and Unix. We don't believe this to be a coincidence." - Jeremy S. Anderson ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 5: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faqs/FAQ.html