extensibility

XML Best Practices


Schema Architecture Issues

Building Modular Schemas

Many different schemas have similar or even identical components. By storing these components in modules and standardizing their use, you can simplify schema development and management, as well as provide a consistent view of your information to software developers and users.

Managing Schemas with Reusables

Many schemas use similar declarations for multiple parts. Multiple element types may need the same content model or sets of attributes, and attribute types may use similar constraints. XML Authority's Reusables help you manage and use this shared information easily.

Planning for Presentation: Schemas and Styles

Schemas provide a foundation for many different kinds of processing, not least of which is presentation. A basic understanding of style sheet technologies may help you plan your schema layout.

Content-oriented, Structure-oriented, and Presentation-Oriented Schemas

Semantics, structure, and formatting are three of the most argued-about issues in all of XML. All three approaches may be appropriate in different situations, though mixing them can become complex.

Data-oriented, Document-oriented, and Integrated Schemas

Developers use XML for data and document interchange of many kinds. XML provides a good set of tools for working with documents, data, or combinations of both kinds of structures.

Moving Information Between Schemas: Transformation Tools

XML's sharply defined structures make it easy to convert documents from one structure to another, allowing you to 'translate' information from one schema to another or present information in a completely different way.

BizTalk, XDR, and XML

The BizTalk framework helps businesses exchange information and provides a foundation on which schema designers can build tools for information interchange.

Designing Schemas for BizTalk

Desiging schemas for information interchange in the BizTalk framework requires careful exploration of some issues that are somewhat different from 'traditional' XML schema design.

Designing Schemas for SOX (Schema for Object-Oriented XML)

SOX benefits both the application developer and the document designer. It allows for the easy creation of structure definition modules, and permits different document structures to be reused in different settings. (SOX modules can even be traded between different companies, in a manner very similar to Java libraries.) SOX also expands document type definitions (DTDs) to be far more readable and usable than in standard XML.

Content Model Issues

Choosing Between Elements and Attributes

There are many cases in schema design where the decision to store content in a child element or in an attribute seems arbitrary. In some cases, it really is arbitrary, but there are still some general guidelines that can be helpful.

Choosing Between Permissive and Restrictive Content Models

If you want, you can create schemas where 'anything goes'. You can also create schemas where every element is nailed down in a particular place. Most schemas will fall someplace in the middle, providing structure that programs can expect, while still providing flexibility for different kinds of information.

Using Data Types

XML Authority provides data typing support you can use today, and provides support for future extension and standards.

Advanced XML Schema Development

Describing Data and File Types with Notations

Notations provide you with a way to create your own descriptions of data and file types.

Unparsed Entities and Their Uses

You can use unparsed entities to direct your application to non-XML information.

Processing Schema Information

Differences between DTDs and Emerging Schema Standards

Document Type Definitions are one type of schema for XML documents. The World Wide Web Consortium is in the process of developing another schema language. XML Authority can help you move your information between these different vocabularies.

Validating vs. Non-validating Parsers in XML 1.0

Using schemas in conjunction with non-validating parsers can be risky, especially if your documents rely on defaulted attributes or entities declared within your schema.

Processing Data Types in XML 1.0

Because data types are an addition to XML 1.0, using data types with XML 1.0 tools may require some extra development work in your application. XML Authority stored data typing information using a set of conventions your application can use to retrieve the data types for element and attribute content and verify that the content matches the required type.

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