CODEWITHSUNDEEP
xmlxsd
ertan
ertan

Reputation: 705

generating empty xml from schema

I'm generating an empty xml from user specified xml schema but i have confused with namespace declarations on attributes.

For example for this schema;

<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
           xmlns="http://tempuri.org/Product" 
           targetNamespace="http://tempuri.org/Product">
    <xs:complexType name="ProductType">
        <xs:sequence>            
        </xs:sequence>
        <xs:attribute name="Id" type="xs:string" />
        <xs:attribute name="Name" type="xs:string" />
    </xs:complexType>
    <xs:element name="Product" type="ProductType" />
</xs:schema>

I have generated the this;

<root>
  <Product xmlns="http://tempuri.org/Product" 
           xmlns:ns1="http://tempuri.org/Product" 
           ns1:Id="1" 
           ns1:Name="2" />
</root>

But visual studio generating this;

<root>
  <Product xmlns="http://tempuri.org/Product" 
           Id="1" 
           Name="2" />
</root>

Which one is correct ?

Update 1:

Whatever xml schema form attribute is set to, if I load the generated xml in XML DOM, Name attribute NamespaceURI is always empty string. (While product has namespace)

I'm performing xpath queries on these attributes and I cannot decide between should I always use namespace prefix or assume it is always same with parent element's namespace.

Example difference;

/*/ns1:Product/@Id
/*/ns1:Product/ns1:@Id

What is common use case for namespaced attribute syntax (qualified ?, unqualified ?) without knowing schema ?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 401

Answers (3)

Pawel
Pawel

Reputation: 31610

I believe this is about form attribute on xs:attribute element. If the from attribute value is qualified that the attribute described by the schema needs to be prefixed (i.e. belong to the namespace) otherwise it must not be prefixed. If the form attribute is missing then the value comes from attributeFormDefault on the xs:schema element. This attribute has the default value of unqualified if it is not specified. Go to Xsd schema spec and search for 'attributeFormDefault' for all the details. I would say VS is right in this case.

Upvotes: 0

C. M. Sperberg-McQueen
C. M. Sperberg-McQueen

Reputation: 25034

According to sec. 3.2.2 of the XSD 1.0 spec, or sec. 3.2.2.2 of XSD 1.1, local attribute declarations (like those for the Id and Name attributes in your example) are namespace-qualified if

  • Their xsd:attribute declaration has form="qualified", or
  • Their xsd:attribute declaration has no form attribute, and the enclosing xsd:schema element has attributeFormDefault="qualified".

Otherwise they are unqualified (their expanded name has a null namespace value).

(Note that XSD 1.0 provides the XML-to-schema-component mappings for both top-level and local attribute declarations in the same section; you have to be careful to check which case is being described. XSD 1.1 subdivides the text more finely, to try to reduce confusion.)

So given the schema you show, it is the second instance, not the first, that is valid against the schema.

Upvotes: 0

Ian Roberts
Ian Roberts

Reputation: 122394

The latter is correct, as the schema does not specify attributeFormDefault="qualified" on the root <xs:schema> element. The default behaviour (attributeFormDefault="unqualified") is that <xs:attribute> declarations that are nested inside a complex type have no namespace. If it were set to qualified they would take the targetNamespace of the schema, at which point your first alternative would be correct.

Upvotes: 1

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