XSD Schema: complexType or Group?

[unishippers.suckfeed.newshosting.com]

Thanks for the response, Priscilla, it was very useful,

Now: what if I want to have an empty group that will only contain atomic
sub elements of the containing type:

<object>
<things>
<thing>
1
</thing>
<thing>
2
</thing>
<thing>
3
</thing>
</things>
</object>

How would this be best expressed? Would the "things" element be a
complexType, or a group, or something else? What should it be if it only
contains instances of the group moniker class?

Thanks,

Jason Hodge

[Priscilla Walmsley]

Hi Jason,

Every element that can contain other elements has to have a complex
type. So you would definitely need complex types for "object" and
"things". For example:

<xs:element name="object" type="objectTyp e"/>
<xs:complexTy pe name="objectTyp e">
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name="things" type="thingsTyp e"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
<xs:complexTy pe name="thingsTyp e">
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name="thing" type="xs:intege r"
maxOccurs="unbo unded"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>

Groups (i.e. xs:group elements) are used when you want to reuse pieces
of the content model in more than one complex type. For example, if
every "product" element had a name, number and description (among other
children), and every "warehouse" element had the same 3 children, plus
some other warehouse-specific things. You could create a group that is
comprised of name, number and description, then refer to that group from
the complex types of both the "product" and "warehouse" elements.

Hope that helps,
Priscilla
-----------------------------------------------------
Priscilla Walmsley
Author, Definitive XML Schema (Prentice Hall PTR)
http://www.datypic.com
-----------------------------------------------------

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[unishippers.suckfeed.newshosting.com]

Thanks! That's what I needed to know.

Jason
"Priscilla Walmsley" <no****@datypic .com> wrote in message
news:41******** **************@ news.newsgroups .ws...

Hi Jason,

Every element that can contain other elements has to have a complex
type. So you would definitely need complex types for "object" and
"things". For example:

<xs:element name="object" type="objectTyp e"/>
<xs:complexTy pe name="objectTyp e">
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name="things" type="thingsTyp e"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
<xs:complexTy pe name="thingsTyp e">
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name="thing" type="xs:intege r"
maxOccurs="unbo unded"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>

Groups (i.e. xs:group elements) are used when you want to reuse pieces
of the content model in more than one complex type. For example, if
every "product" element had a name, number and description (among other
children), and every "warehouse" element had the same 3 children, plus
some other warehouse-specific things. You could create a group that is
comprised of name, number and description, then refer to that group from
the complex types of both the "product" and "warehouse" elements.

Hope that helps,
Priscilla
-----------------------------------------------------
Priscilla Walmsley
Author, Definitive XML Schema (Prentice Hall PTR)
http://www.datypic.com
-----------------------------------------------------

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