XML Schema Design

[Kanchana D S]

Hi,

I am trying to design the schema for an XML file.

The approach that I am planning to follow is to have 2 XSD files, each
containing some relevant information about the elements in the instance
document and then
planning to automatically generate the XML file from these 2 schema files
using the XMLSpy tool.

My doubt is - What is the best way to generate the xml file ? Are there any
best practices ? Any example would be of great help.

Regards,
Kanchana

[Oleg Tkachenko]

Kanchana D S wrote:

My doubt is - What is the best way to generate the xml file ? Are there any
best practices ? Any example would be of great help.

What's the point to generate dummy XML documents from schema? If you need it
for testing/debugging, XML Spy can do that as you noted.
--
Oleg Tkachenko
http://www.tkachenko.com/blog
Multiconn Technologies, Israel

[Kanchana D S]

Hi,

It will not be a dummy XML file, the xml file generated will contain the
mandatory elements and it can be refined and used with my application. But I
would like to rephrase my question here as my problem doesn't seem to have
been clear. The focus is not on the XML file, but the design of the XSD
files.

I have an xml file part of which can be shown as below :

<PANEL_CLUSTE R>
<ppDialogFile>P anelClusterDlg. resx</ppDialogFile>
<ppDeletable> 0</ppDeletable>
<ppDefault>1</ppDefault>
<ppSubNodesPoss ible>1</ppSubNodesPossi ble>
<ppMax_NN_NETWO RK>8</ppMax_NN_NETWOR K>
<ppHelpIndex>%r r80202</ppHelpIndex>
<ppIcoName>PANE L_CLUSTER.ico</ppIcoName> From Definition.xsd
<ppDisplayName> %rr80202</ppDisplayName>
<ppSaveName>%rr 80202</ppSaveName>
<spcheckdate>nu ll</spcheckdate>

<ppCompute_ppDi splayName_Stric t>%rr80202+""+$ rr20003</ppCompute_ppDis playNam
e_Strict>
<ppEnum_rr20004 >%rr91004</ppEnum_rr20004>
<rr20003 FLS="5,5">Clust er with 2 Magic-Panels</rr20003> From
Attributes.xsd
<rr20004 FLS="5,5">CT_UK </rr20004>
</PANEL_CLUSTER>

There will be 2 XSD files, one which contains the constraints for some
elements of the "PANEL_CLUS TER" element and the other which contains the
constraints for the remaining elements of the SAME "PANEL_CLUS TER" element.
The question is, how should these 2 XSD files be designed so that the final
XML file ( shown above ) can be validated against the 2 schemas. Are there
any help articles on how to build the XSD files and the syntax to be used?

I have tried it this way :

Say the first XSD file is called "Definition.xsd " and it is as below :

<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
elementFormDefa ult="qualified" >
<xs:element name="PANEL_CLU STER">
<xs:complexType >
<xs:all>
<xs:element name="ppDialogF ile" type="xs:string "/>
<xs:element name="ppDeletab le" type="xs:boolea n"/>
<xs:element name="ppDefault " type="xs:boolea n"/>
<xs:element name="ppSubNode sPossible" type="xs:boolea n"/>
<xs:element name="ppMax_NN_ NETWORK" type="xs:byte"/>
<xs:element name="ppHelpInd ex" type="xs:string "/>
<xs:element name="ppIcoName " type="xs:string "/>
<xs:element name="ppDisplay Name" type="xs:string "/>
<xs:element name="ppSaveNam e" type="xs:string "/>
<xs:element name="spcheckda te" type="xs:string "/>
<xs:element name="ppCompute _ppDisplayName_ Strict"
type="xs:string "/>
<xs:element name="ppEnum_rr 20004" type="xs:string "/>
</xs:all>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:schema>

And the second is called "Attribute. xsd" and in this file, I want to specify
the remaining 2 elements of the PANEL_CLUSTER element, namely "rr20003" and
"rr20004". For this, I "include" the Definition.xsd file in the
Attribute.xsd file and add the remaining elements as follows :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
elementFormDefa ult="qualified" attributeFormDe fault="unqualif ied">
<xs:include schemaLocation= "Definition.xsd "/>
<xs:element ref="PANEL_CLUS TER">
<xs:complexType >
<xs:element name="rr20003">
<xs:complexType >
<xs:simpleConte nt>
<xs:extension base="xs:string ">
<xs:attribute name="FLS" type="xs:string "
use="required"/>
</xs:extension>
</xs:simpleConten t>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name="rr20004">
<xs:complexType >
<xs:simpleConte nt>
<xs:extension base="xs:string ">
<xs:attribute name="FLS" type="xs:string "
use="required"/>
</xs:extension>
</xs:simpleConten t>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:schema>

But this gives me an error saying the <xs:element ref="PANEL_CLUS TER"> is
not valid. Is there something wrong with what I am doing? Is there a better
way to accomplish the same goal ?

Regards,
Kanchana

[Kanchana D S]

Thanks so much, that was of great help!

Regards,
Kanchana