Declarative constraints for XML documents

[J C Theriot]

Expanding on option 2:  If there were a standard XML schema for constraint
validation (CVML?), the constraints could be unambiguously documented in
XSL, and the constraints could be applied with (more or less) existing
tools.  An application could examine the CVML tree and take appropriate
action, and/or a subsequent XSL could format the tree into a constraint
compliance report.

Jim Theriot
Petrotechnical Open Software Corporation
jim.theriot at posc.org
(713)267-5109

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-xml-dev at ic.ac.uk [mailto:owner-xml-dev at ic.ac.uk]On Behalf Of
Arnold, Curt
Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 1999 2:23 PM
To: 'xml-dev at ic.ac.uk'
Subject: Declarative constraints for XML documents


I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on methods of analyzing or
validating internal consistancy of XML documents.  The type of validation
that I'm concerned with goes beyond the types of validation possibly in the
XML Schema drafts, this type of validation would involve comparison of
multiple elements similar to the capabilities of EXPRESS or SQL constraints.
For example, if you had a document like

<Attire>
	<Jacket>
		<Pattern name="pinstripe">
			<Color>Charcoal</Color>
			<Color>White</Color>
		</Pattern>
	</Jacket>
	<Shoes>
		<Color>Brown</Color>
	</Shoes>
</Attire>

A constraint could indicate that you can't wear brown shoes with a Charcoal
suite.  (The schema could indicate that you really should wear a pair of
pants)


A couple of options occured to me:

1) Typical procedural validation in a traditional language like VB or Java
2) XSL that would produce an exception report in XML or HTML
3) A combination of XSL pattern matching and procedural fragments written in
Java, VBScript, or JavaScript.

Any other suggestions?

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