boost::join and boost::transformed

Question 1

I'd just write it like this:

std::string returnConcatString() const {
    std::ostringstream os;
    for(auto& b : sharedPtrList)
        os << b->string1() << ':' << b->string2() << ',';

    auto s = os.str();
    if (!s.empty())
        s.resize(s.size()-1);
    return s; // moves
}

Amazingly, the compile times are better, and the runtime will be a lot better than your code would achieve.

See it Live On Coliru

And if you really cared about performance, I'd suggest Boost Karma:

std::string returnConcatString() const {
    if (sharedPtrList.empty())
        return {};

    std::string result;
    result.reserve(20 * sharedPtrList.size()); // average length preallocate?

    auto out = back_inserter(result);

    namespace k =  boost::spirit::karma;
    for(auto& b : sharedPtrList)
        k::generate(out, k::string << ':' << k::string << ',', b->string1(), b->string2());

    result.resize(result.size()-1);
    return result; // moves
}

See it Live On Coliru too

A performance comparison:

As you can see, the stringstream approach is only bad at small collections.

Raw data and benchmark code

Question 2

I use this:

/* 
 * File:   ostream_join_iterator.hpp
 * Author: utnapistim :)
 *
 * Created on July 13, 2013, 1:14 AM
 */

#ifndef OSTREAM_JOIN_ITERATOR_HPP
#define OSTREAM_JOIN_ITERATOR_HPP

/**
 *  @brief  Implements join functionality directing into an ostream
 *
 *  This class provides an iterator for writing into an ostream. 
 *  The type T is the only type written by this iterator and there must 
 *  be an operator << (T) defined.
 * 
 *  @remarks This class implements functionality similar to
 *      std::ostream_iterator except it does not print a separator after the
 *      last element.
 *
 *  @param  Tp  The type to write to the ostream.
 *  @param  CharT  The ostream char_type.
 *  @param  Traits  The ostream char_traits.
 */
template<typename T, typename C=char, typename Tr=std::char_traits<C> >
class ostream_join_iterator
: public std::iterator<std::output_iterator_tag, void, void, void, void>
{
public:
    typedef C  char_type;
    typedef Tr traits_type;
    typedef std::basic_string<C, Tr>  splitter_type;
    typedef std::basic_ostream<C, Tr> ostream_type;

private:
    ostream_type        *out_;
    splitter_type       splitter_;
    bool                at_first_;

public:
    ostream_join_iterator(ostream_type& out)
    : out_{&out}
    , splitter_{}
    , at_first_{true}
    {
    }

    /**
     *  Construct from an ostream.
     *
     *  @remarks The delimiter is not copied, and thus must not be destroyed
     *          while this iterator is in use.
     *
     *  @param  out         Underlying ostream to write to.
     *  @param  splitter    CharT delimiter string to insert.
     */
    ostream_join_iterator(ostream_type& out, const char_type* splitter)
    : out_{&out}
    , splitter_{splitter}
    , at_first_{true}
    {
    }

    /// Copy constructor.

    ostream_join_iterator(const ostream_join_iterator& other)
    : out_{other.out_}
    , splitter_{other.splitter_}
    , at_first_{other.at_first_}
    {
    }

    ostream_join_iterator& operator=(const T& value)
    {   // add separator before the value, if not at first element
        if((not splitter_.empty()) and (not at_first_))
            *out_ << splitter_;
        *out_ << value;
        at_first_ = false;
        return *this;
    }

    ostream_join_iterator& operator=(ostream_join_iterator temp)
    {
        using std::swap;
        swap(out_, temp.out_);
        swap(splitter_, temp.splitter_);
        swap(at_first_, temp.at_first_);
        return *this;
    }

    ostream_join_iterator&
    operator*() {
        return *this;
    }

    ostream_join_iterator&
    operator++() {
        return *this;
    }

    ostream_join_iterator&
    operator++(int) {
        return *this;
    }
};

template <typename T> using join = ostream_join_iterator<T>;
template <typename T> using wjoin = ostream_join_iterator<T, wchar_t>;

#endif  /* OSTREAM_JOIN_ITERATOR_HPP */

Usage:

using namespace std;
ostringstream   sql;
sql << "SELECT ";
transform(fields_.begin(), fields_.end(), join<string>{sql, ", "},
    [](const field& f) { return f.escaped_name(); });
sql << " FROM " << name_;

The transform call can easily be paced into a convenience function.