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Types
Types in XML Schema are either simple or complex. Simple types allow character data content, but no child elements or attributes. In our example, the number and status elements, as well as the hireDate attribute, have simple types. Complex types, on the other hand, allow child elements or attributes. In our example, the employee element has a complex type because it has child elements and an attribute.
Built-in Simple Types
The XML Schema recommendation defines 44 built-in simple types that represent commonly used data types. They consist of string types, numeric types (for example, float, decimal, integer), and date and time types (for example, dateTime, duration, time). There are also types that represent each of the attribute types in XML 1.0, such as ID, IDREF, and NMTOKEN. In our example, we used the built-in simple type integer for the number element, and the built-in type date for the attribute hireDate. The built-in types are listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Built-in Simple Types
|
anyURI base64Binary boolean byte date dateTime decimal double duration ENTITIES ENTITY float gDay gMonth gMonthDay |
gYear gYearMonth hexBinary ID IDREF IDREFS int integer language long Name NCName negativeInteger NMTOKEN NMTOKENS |
nonNegativeInteger nonPositiveInteger normalizedString NOTATION positiveInteger QName short string time token unsignedByte unsignedInt unsignedLong unsignedShort |
User-Derived Simple Types
If the built-in simple types don't quite meet your needs, you can derive your own types from the built-in types. In our example, we created a new type StatusType that restricted string by applying enumeration facets. Facets are a way of restricting the value values of a type, and there are 12 of them available in XML Schema. They can be used to restrict a value to specific list, to a range, or to match a regular expression. The 12 facets are listed in Table 2.
Table 2. Facets
|
enumeration fractionDigits length maxExclusive |
maxInclusive maxLength minExclusive minInclusive |
minLength pattern totalDigits whiteSpace |
Complex Types
Complex types allow elements to have child elements or attributes, or both. Complex types can have one of four content types:
Simple content, which means that they only have character data content; for example, <status effDate="2001-11-30">FT</status>. Simple content complex types are similar to simple types, except that they may have attributes.
Element-only content, which has only child elements like our employee example.
Mixed content, which allows both character data content and child elements. It is often used in free-form text.
Empty content, which allows no content at all; for example, <status value="FT"/>
When complex types have child elements, a content model is specified to indicate the names, order, and number of child elements that may appear. In our example, we specified a content model for EmployeeType that consisted of a group with the two child elements. The purpose of a sequence group is to indicate that the elements must appear in the order specified. Two other varieties of groups can be used in a content model. A choice group may be used to indicate that any one of the elements may appear, and an all group may be used to indicate that all of the elements should appear, but in any order. Sequence and choice groups may be nested to create more complex content models. Example 4 shows a new definition for EmployeeType, which requires that the element contain first the number and status children, optionally followed by up to five location or favoriteColor elements, followed by any element from another namespace (indicated by the any element).
Example 4. Nested Groups
<xsd:complexType name="EmployeeType"> <xsd:sequence> <xsd:element name="number" type="xsd:integer"/> <xsd:element name="status" type="StatusType"/> <xsd:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="5"> <xsd:element name="location" type="xsd:string"/> <xsd:element name="favoriteColor" type="ColorType"/> </xsd:choice> <xsd:any namespace="##other"/> </xsd:sequence> <xsd:attribute name="hireDate" type="xsd:date"/> </xsd:complexType>