XSD.exe handling of mixed content types in generate classes?

[Bill Cohagan]

I'm trying to generate class definitions from an XSD that contains something
like:

<xs:complexType name="foo" mixed="true">
<xs:choice minOccurs = "0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
<xs:element name = "bar" type = "something"/>
...
<xs:element name = "baz" type = "somethingelse"/>
</xs:choice>
</xs:complexType>

The C# code generated by XSD.exe creates a class that has an array of
objects to allow for an arbitrary number of elements (reflecting the
maxOccurs="unbounded"), but doesn't appear to allow for possible text chunks
occurring between the bar and/or baz elements. When I actually deserialize
into the generated class structure from an XML containing such text I get no
errors or complaints, but the resulting objects have arrays of length 1
containing just the bar/baz element and nothing reflecting the text that is
in the XML file.

Based on a google search I found an article that implies XSD.exe doesn't
really handle mixed content well, but the example used a sequence rather
than a choice compositor. It appears from my experience that, in the case of
"choice" it doesn't handle it at all!

Anyway, I'm basing all this on the "old" version of .Net and am wondering if
the VS 2003 version of XSD.exe does any better with mixed content schema.
Also, is it possible for me to handle these sorts of cases by providing some
custom serialize/deserialize code?

Thanks in advance,
Bill

[MSFT]

Hello Bill,

What is the "text chunks" occurring between the bar and/or baz? Can you
give me a sample? Thanks.
Luke

"Microsoft Security Announcement: Have you installed the patch for
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-026?? If not Microsoft strongly advises
you to review the information at the following link regarding Microsoft
Security Bulletin MS03-026
http://www.microsoft.com/security/se...s/ms03-026.asp and/or to
visit Windows Update at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com to install the
patch. Running the SCAN program from the Windows Update site will help to
insure you are current with all security patches, not just MS03-026."

[Bill Cohagan]

[I posted this reply some hours ago, but since it dosen't appear to have
made it am possibly duplicating it...]

Just text, as you would expect in a mixed = "true" content model. Think of
the XSD you'd use to model XHTML text with embedded <p> elements, etc.

Bill
"MSFT" <lu******@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7l**************@cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl...

Hello Bill,

What is the "text chunks" occurring between the bar and/or baz? Can you
give me a sample? Thanks.
Luke

"Microsoft Security Announcement: Have you installed the patch for
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-026?? If not Microsoft strongly advises
you to review the information at the following link regarding Microsoft
Security Bulletin MS03-026
http://www.microsoft.com/security/se...s/ms03-026.asp and/or to visit Windows Update at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com to install the
patch. Running the SCAN program from the Windows Update site will help to
insure you are current with all security patches, not just MS03-026."

[MSFT]

I think the problem should be related to the namespace for the "text
chunks". Without a known namespace, xsd.exe will generate an error. I
believe following code should work:

<xs:element name = "bar" type = "xs:int"/>
<xs:element name = "bat" type = "xs:int"/>
<xs:element name = "baz" type = "xs:int"/>

Luke

(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)

[Bill Cohagan]

Luke-
I'm afraid I didn't make this clear enough as you haven't addressed the
problem. Consider the XSD fragment:

<xs:complexType name="foo" mixed="true">
<xs:choice minOccurs = "0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
<xs:element name = "bar" type = "something"/>
...
<xs:element name = "baz" type = "somethingelse"/>
</xs:choice>
</xs:complexType>

In the above example let's assume that "something" and "somethingelse" are
themselves defined by xs:complexType elements within the same XSD, but their
particular structure is unimportant. What IS important is the 'mixed =
"true"' attribute in the complexType named foo. Assuming we have an element
fooelt defined to be of type "foo", we expect to see XML of the form...

<fooelt>
now is <something/> the time <somethingelse/> for <somethingelse/> all
<something/> good programmers
</fooelt>

The code generated by XSD.exe handles the <something> and <somethingelse>
elements OK, but makes no allowance AT ALL for the text. I hope this is a
better explanation of the problem.

Thanks,
Bill

"MSFT" <lu******@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:r8**************@cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl...

I think the problem should be related to the namespace for the "text
chunks". Without a known namespace, xsd.exe will generate an error. I
believe following code should work:

<xs:element name = "bar" type = "xs:int"/>
<xs:element name = "bat" type = "xs:int"/>
<xs:element name = "baz" type = "xs:int"/>

Luke

(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)

[Bill Cohagan]

Luke:

From the .Net Framework General Reference, searching by complexType, see
the description of the "mixed" attribute of the complexType element where it
says:

"mixed
An indicator of whether character data is allowed to appear between the
child elements of this complex type. The default is false. "
So, according to this, text is allowed between the elements derived from the
xs:choice compositor. Also, by way of empirical support, I am able to
validate my XML (which contains the embedded text) against the XSD that uses
the xs:choice within the complexType with mixed = "true". My problem isn't
that the XSD validator is rejecting the XML, it's that XSD.exe is not
generating code to handle such text.

Regards,

Bill

"MSFT" <lu******@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7X*************@cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl...

Hi Bill,

From the definition of "xs:choice" in .NET framework, its contents should
be these:

annotation, any, choice, element, group, sequence

If you add some text in its contents, the syntax may not be correct.

For more in information on "xs:choice" you may refer to:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...us/cpgenref/ht ml/xsdrefchoiceelement.asp

If I misunderstood the problem, please feel free to let me know.

Luke
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! www.microsoft.com/security
(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)

[MSFT]

Hi Bill

"mixed=true" means you can use charactors in the XML file, not XSD file (in
xs:choice). XSD.exe will open the XSD file, so that i can't recognize the
text.

Luke
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! www.microsoft.com/security
(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)

[Bill Cohagan]

Luke-
That's EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! I'm specifying an XSD that
describes a structure using a xs:choice element within an xs:complexType
with mixed="true". Thus, given an XML file that has text "between the child
elements" of an element of that complexType, it should (and does) validate
just fine. The object model code generated by XSD.exe however does NOT allow
for the text in the XML file.

Is that any clearer?

Bill

"MSFT" <lu******@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:JK****************@cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl...

Hi Bill

"mixed=true" means you can use charactors in the XML file, not XSD file (in xs:choice). XSD.exe will open the XSD file, so that i can't recognize the
text.

Luke
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! www.microsoft.com/security
(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)

[MSFT]

Hi Bill,

You may add an element with String type:

<xs:choice minOccurs = "0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
<xs:element name = "bar" type = "xs:int"/>
<xs:element name="anyString" type="xs:string" />
<xs:element name = "baz" type = "xs:int"/>
</xs:choice>

This will make XSD.exe have a sense to the charactors in the XML file?

Luke
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! www.microsoft.com/security
(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)

[Bill Cohagan]

Luke-
Thanks for the suggestion; however in this case the text needs to appear
as text *between* the children of the complexType rather than *within
elements* that are children of the complex type. My original question
acknowledged that original XSD.EXE cannot handle this case (you agree, don't
you?) -- but I was wondering whether the new one (assuming there's a new
version with VS 2003) provides any relief.

The bottom line is that there are perfectly valid XSD files for which
XSD.exe generates faulty runtime code. This is "documented" if you're good
with google, but there isn't (or I couldn't find) any up front MS
documentation on this. For instance, it'd be nice if XSD.exe provided an
error message or at least an embedded comment in the generated code to warn
the user that there's a problem when it encounters a case it can't handle.

Regards,
Bill

"MSFT" <lu******@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CM**************@cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl...

Hi Bill,

You may add an element with String type:

<xs:choice minOccurs = "0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
<xs:element name = "bar" type = "xs:int"/>
<xs:element name="anyString" type="xs:string" />
<xs:element name = "baz" type = "xs:int"/>
</xs:choice>

This will make XSD.exe have a sense to the charactors in the XML file?

Luke
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! www.microsoft.com/security
(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)

[MSFT]

Hi Bill,

I test XSD.exe in VS.NET 2003 and I got similar result. XSD.exe ignores the
"mixed=true". There is a related KB article you may refer to it:

PRB: XmlElementAttribute Is Missing for the Generated Class Members While
Using Xsd.exe
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;Q816222
Luke
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! www.microsoft.com/security
(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)

[Bill Cohagan]

Luke,
Thanks, but I don't see that this article has anything to do with XSD
ignoring "mixed = true" in a complexType element.

Bill
"MSFT" <lu******@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BU**************@cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl...

Hi Bill,

I test XSD.exe in VS.NET 2003 and I got similar result. XSD.exe ignores the "mixed=true". There is a related KB article you may refer to it:

PRB: XmlElementAttribute Is Missing for the Generated Class Members While
Using Xsd.exe
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;Q816222
Luke
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! www.microsoft.com/security
(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)

[Parker Zhang [MSFT]]

Hi Bill,

The mixed attribute indicates whether character data is permitted to appear
between the child elements of the complexType class. The default value of
mixed is false. However, when you add anyAttribute to a complex type
element that has mixed set to true, the mixed attribute is ignored.

This behavior is by design.

To work around this problem, do not use anyAttribute inside mixed
attributes when you want to enter character data between child elements.

For more information about XML Schema design patterns, visit the following
Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de....asp?contentid
=28000438

If you have any Qs, please reply to this post.

--
Parker Zhang
Microsoft Developer Support

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

[Bill Cohagan]

Parker
Thanks for pointing this out; however I wasn't using anyAttribute at all.
I was complaining that XSD.exe didn't properly handle mixed = "true" when
generating code.

Bill
"Parker Zhang [MSFT]" <pa******@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:kw**************@cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl...

Hi Bill,

The mixed attribute indicates whether character data is permitted to appear between the child elements of the complexType class. The default value of
mixed is false. However, when you add anyAttribute to a complex type
element that has mixed set to true, the mixed attribute is ignored.

This behavior is by design.

To work around this problem, do not use anyAttribute inside mixed
attributes when you want to enter character data between child elements.

For more information about XML Schema design patterns, visit the following
Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de....asp?contentid =28000438

If you have any Qs, please reply to this post.

--
Parker Zhang
Microsoft Developer Support

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

[Bill Cohagan]

Parker-
Out of curiosity, when you say "the mixed attribute is ignored", are you
saying that a validator ignores the mixed attribute or are you saying
XSD.exe ignores it? Although I think this has nothing to do with my original
post, I'm curious about this (and why it might be so).

Thanks,
Bill

"Parker Zhang [MSFT]" <pa******@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:kw**************@cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl...

Hi Bill,

The mixed attribute indicates whether character data is permitted to appear between the child elements of the complexType class. The default value of
mixed is false. However, when you add anyAttribute to a complex type
element that has mixed set to true, the mixed attribute is ignored.

This behavior is by design.

To work around this problem, do not use anyAttribute inside mixed
attributes when you want to enter character data between child elements.

For more information about XML Schema design patterns, visit the following
Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de....asp?contentid =28000438

If you have any Qs, please reply to this post.

--
Parker Zhang
Microsoft Developer Support

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

[MSFT]

Hi Bill,

A KB article on "mixed = true" will be public soon. I think it may address
this issue more exactly. Anyway, the root cause for the problem is same
with Q816222.

Luke
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! www.microsoft.com/security
(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)