Guru: Generating XML Using SQL – The Easy Way

September 18, 2023 Bob Cozzi

There are many verbose methods of generating XML. You can:

• Write your own RPG code
• Using a free or third-party API
• Use SQL iQuery OUTPUT(*XML) option
• Use the built-in SQL XML functions such as XMLELEMENT

I’m sure there are others, but these seem to be the most popular.

For years I had been using the XMLELEMENT approach; a rather verbose set of XML function built into Db2 for i SQL. In fact, SQL iQuery’s OUTPUT(*XML) is based on that feature. It simply regenerates your SQL statement using XMLELEMENT statements for each output column/field name.

But if you’re using something IBM …