The biggest problem the APEX application has, regarding XML DB interaction, is that it doesn’t understand / support (yet) typical XML DB structures like the datatype / operator “XMLType”. To make APEX capable to support these structures some coding has to be done transforming an XMLtype value into other datatypes like CLOB or a varchar2.
In the XFILES application this is supported via the package “XFILES_APEX_SERVICES”. This package contains, among others, a function called “LISTDIRECTORY” which shows the content of files and (underneath) directories in a (root) directory.
For example, via WebDAV access, Oracle XML DB Repository content can be made visible while using Windows Explorer, of the following /home directory.
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The actual content seen here (or via HTTP, FTP) is a representation of an XMLType table in the database called XDB$RESOURCE.