XML Schema Indicators

We can control HOW elements are to be used in documents with indicators

Indicators

There are seven indicators:

Order indicators:

  • All
  • Choice
  • Sequence
  • Occurrence indicators:

  • maxOccurs
  • minOccurs
  • Group indicators:

  • Group name
  • attributeGroup name
  • Order Indicators

    Order indicators are used to define the order of the elements.

    All Indicator

    The <all> indicator specifies that the child elements can appear in any order, and that each child element must occur only once:

    <xs:element name="person">
      <xs:complexType>
        <xs:all>
          <xs:element name="firstname" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element name="lastname" type="xs:string"/>
        </xs:all>
      </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>
    Note: When using the <all> indicator you can set the <minOccurs> indicator to 0 or 1 and the <maxOccurs> indicator can only be set to 1 (the <minOccurs> and <maxOccurs> are described later).

    Choice Indicator

    The <choice> indicator specifies that either one child element or another can occur:

    <xs:element name="person">
      <xs:complexType>
        <xs:choice>
          <xs:element name="employee" type="employee"/>
          <xs:element name="member" type="member"/>
        </xs:choice>
      </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>

    Sequence Indicator

    The <sequence> indicator specifies that the child elements must appear in a specific order:

    <xs:element name="person">
       <xs:complexType>
        <xs:sequence>
          <xs:element name="firstname" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element name="lastname" type="xs:string"/>
        </xs:sequence>
      </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>

    Occurrence Indicators

    Occurrence indicators are used to define how often an element can occur.

    Note: For all "Order" and "Group" indicators (any, all, choice, sequence, group name, and group reference) the default value for maxOccurs and minOccurs is 1.

    maxOccurs Indicator

    The <maxOccurs> indicator specifies the maximum number of times an element can occur:

    <xs:element name="person">
      <xs:complexType>
        <xs:sequence>
          <xs:element name="full_name" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element name="child_name" type="xs:string" maxOccurs="10"/>
        </xs:sequence>
      </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>

    The example above indicates that the "child_name" element can occur a minimum of one time (the default value for minOccurs is 1) and a maximum of ten times in the "person" element.

    minOccurs Indicator

    The <minOccurs> indicator specifies the minimum number of times an element can occur:

    <xs:element name="person">
      <xs:complexType>
        <xs:sequence>
          <xs:element name="full_name" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element name="child_name" type="xs:string"
          maxOccurs="10" minOccurs="0"/>
        </xs:sequence>
      </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>

    The example above indicates that the "child_name" element can occur a minimum of zero times and a maximum of ten times in the "person" element.

    Tip: To allow an element to appear an unlimited number of times, use the maxOccurs="unbounded" statement:
    A working example:

    An XML file called "Myfamily.xml":

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

    <persons xmlns:xsi="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="family.xsd">

    <person>
      <full_name>Hege Refsnes</full_name>
      <child_name>Cecilie</child_name>
    </person>

    <person>
      <full_name>Tove Refsnes</full_name>
      <child_name>Hege</child_name>
      <child_name>Stale</child_name>
      <child_name>Jim</child_name>
      <child_name>Borge</child_name>
    </person>

    <person>
      <full_name>Stale Refsnes</full_name>
    </person>

    </persons>

    The XML file above contains a root element named "persons". Inside this root element we have defined three "person" elements. Each "person" element must contain a "full_name" element and it can contain up to five "child_name" elements.

    Here is the schema file "family.xsd":

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <xs:schema xmlns:xs="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
    elementFormDefault="qualified">

    <xs:element name="persons">
      <xs:complexType>
        <xs:sequence>
          <xs:element name="person" maxOccurs="unbounded">
            <xs:complexType>
              <xs:sequence>
                <xs:element name="full_name" type="xs:string"/>
                <xs:element name="child_name" type="xs:string"
                minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="5"/>
              </xs:sequence>
            </xs:complexType>
          </xs:element>
        </xs:sequence>
      </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>

    </xs:schema>

    Group Indicators

    Group indicators are used to define related sets of elements.

    Element Groups

    Element groups are defined with the group declaration, like this:

    <xs:group name="groupname">
    ...
    </xs:group>

    You must define an all, choice, or sequence element inside the group declaration. The following example defines a group named "persongroup", that defines a group of elements that must occur in an exact sequence:

    <xs:group name="persongroup">
      <xs:sequence>
        <xs:element name="firstname" type="xs:string"/>
        <xs:element name="lastname" type="xs:string"/>
        <xs:element name="birthday" type="xs:date"/>
      </xs:sequence>
    </xs:group>

    After you have defined a group, you can reference it in another definition, like this:

    <xs:group name="persongroup">
      <xs:sequence>
        <xs:element name="firstname" type="xs:string"/>
        <xs:element name="lastname" type="xs:string"/>
        <xs:element name="birthday" type="xs:date"/>
      </xs:sequence>
    </xs:group>

    <xs:element name="person" type="personinfo"/>

    <xs:complexType name="personinfo">
      <xs:sequence>
        <xs:group ref="persongroup"/>
        <xs:element name="country" type="xs:string"/>
      </xs:sequence>
    </xs:complexType>

    Attribute Groups

    Attribute groups are defined with the attributeGroup declaration, like this:

    <xs:attributeGroup name="groupname">
    ...
    </xs:attributeGroup>

    The following example defines an attribute group named "personattrgroup":

    <xs:attributeGroup name="personattrgroup">
      <xs:attribute name="firstname" type="xs:string"/>
      <xs:attribute name="lastname" type="xs:string"/>
      <xs:attribute name="birthday" type="xs:date"/>
    </xs:attributeGroup>

    After you have defined an attribute group, you can reference it in another definition, like this:

    <xs:attributeGroup name="personattrgroup">
      <xs:attribute name="firstname" type="xs:string"/>
      <xs:attribute name="lastname" type="xs:string"/>
      <xs:attribute name="birthday" type="xs:date"/>
    </xs:attributeGroup>

    <xs:element name="person">
      <xs:complexType>
        <xs:attributeGroup ref="personattrgroup"/>
      </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>