First off, there's no reason to quote everything you are replying to, there's a simple
Reply to topic link at the top and bottom of every page. Quote stuff when it's relevant / needed. Saves me having to clean up things.
So, it's
not already well-formed, complete XML stored in its
entirety as a single CLOB? Instead it is just the 'core' data elements which have already been cut up and stored as multiple records in a relational table? Meaning you then need to not only put the records back together but also wrap it to make it 'well-formed' as well. If so, we seem to have moved past the original discussion which was a bit more... straight-forward.
What does the "x_control" column represent? I see that they mark each tag but I don't see that being especially useful here. Can you explain how you are attempting to use them, please? I'm assuming Andy meant something more like a simple ascending "chunk number" so that you could properly "assemble" / concatenate back together the long string that is a piece of well-formed XML. And those chunks would literally be chopped up string pieces, all cut to the same size, useless on their own, simply so they fit out the door.
Just want to make sure we're all on the same page with regards to the problem you are trying to solve.