Basic XMLSchema questions

Brett McLaughlin bmclaugh at algx.net
Thu Jan 6 00:21:28 GMT 2000



"Henry S. Thompson" wrote:
> 
> Brett McLaughlin <bmclaugh at algx.net> writes:
> 
> > Alan Santos wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi,
> > >  I'm trying to wrap my head around the XMLSchema drafts to determine their
> > > immediate usefulness (to myself), and have some very basic questions.
> > >
> > > 1)  What is the difference between an archetype, type and datatype?
> > > When is one used in place of the other.
> >
> > <archetype> is gone, replaced by <type>, which is used for specifying
> > non-"primitive" (i.e. predefined) types for elements.
> >
> > <datatype> is for doing the same sort of operation on attributes.
> >
> > for example:
> >
> > <element name="myElement">
> >   <type>
> >     <element name="nestedElement" type="string" />
> >     <element name="anotherNestedElement" type="string" />
> >     <attribute name="isPrimary">
> >       <datatype content="empty" />
> >     </attribute>
> >     <attribute name="focus">
> >       <datatype content="NMTOKENS">
> >         <enumeration value="Java" />
> >         <enumeration value="C" />
> >         <enumeration value="XML" />
> >       </datatype>
> >     </attribute>
> >   </type>
> > </element>
> 
> The spirit of the above is entirely correct, there are a few mistakes
> in the details.  For the overall story, see my reply to the original
> post.
> 
> The example above is not quite schema-valid, as follows:
> 
> > <element name="myElement">
> >   <type>
> >     <element name="nestedElement" type="string" />
> >     <element name="anotherNestedElement" type="string" />
> >     <attribute name="isPrimary">
> >       <datatype content="empty" />

Sorry, I meant that to be an element, and to be an empty one.  


>                   ^^^^^^^
>          not allowed on <datatype>, I guess you want something like
>          <attribute name="isPrimary" type="boolean"/>
> >     </attribute>
> >     <attribute name="focus">
> >       <datatype content="NMTOKENS">
>                   ^^^^^^^
>          again, not quite right, I think you mean source="NMTOKEN"

Yes, of course ;-)

> >         <enumeration value="Java" />
> >         <enumeration value="C" />
> >         <enumeration value="XML" />
> >       </datatype>
> >     </attribute>
> >   </type>
> > </element>
> 
> Not surprisingly, I'm more positive about the utility of type
> derivation than you are :-).

You better be, you're on the WG, right? ;-)

-Brett

> 
> ht
> --
>   Henry S. Thompson, HCRC Language Technology Group, University of Edinburgh
>      2 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9LW, SCOTLAND -- (44) 131 650-4440
>             Fax: (44) 131 650-4587, e-mail: ht at cogsci.ed.ac.uk
>                      URL: http://www.ltg.ed.ac.uk/~ht/

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