Publisher's Synopsis
This book describes the basics of W3C XML Schema (XSD) language, focusing primarily on 1.1 version of the XSD language. XSD 1.1 is a successor of XSD 1.0 language and provides advanced features for XML document validation. The book starts with describing basics of XML, and then describes the abstract model on which XSD schemas are based. It then progressively describes the various XSD language features that are used to write XSD schema documents ranging from the simple ones to much advanced XSD schemas. The book provides complete coverage of every aspect of XSD language, explaining the concepts supported by numerous examples.
There are at least three reasons why standardizing such schemas is useful:
1. When two groups are preparing to exchange information using XML documents, a schema gives them a way to agree on what the structure of the documents is to be.
2. Because XML schemas are machine-processable and captured in a standard form, tools can be built to help build XML documents automatically, perhaps by extracting information from databases, or to automatically generate input forms to be presented to users. Similar tools can be used to automatically extract XML information into databases, program APIs, or spreadsheets.
3. When documents are generated or received through a network, validators can be used to check automatically that the rules have been followed.
The W3C XML Schema language allows us to document the nesting structure of the elements and attributes in valid documents. It also standardizes types such as integer, decimal, or date that apply to the content of individual attributes or elements.
About the Author
Mukul Gandhi has been associated with work on XML and XML Schemas since many years. He was involved with the development of XML Schema 1.1 language, while W3C worked on standardizing the 1.1 version of XML Schema language. He has contributed to IBM's work on XML Schema 1.1 language standardization. He is also the member of Apache Xerces2 XML tools project that provides among other things conformant implementations of XSD 1.0 and 1.1 processors.
