CODEWITHSUNDEEP
xmlreferencexsdguid
tommyk
tommyk

Reputation: 3307

GUID attribute as IDREF in xsd schema

I use globally unique identifier (GUID) for my xml elements, schema looks like this:

<xs:simpleType name="guidType">
  <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
    <xs:pattern value="[a-fA-F0-9]{8}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]
                       {4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{12}"/>
  </xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>

and xml element like this:

<point guid="5C815FB2-0731-4E88-9885-CFC49B8E7B92" id="ABC" x="12" y="51" z="0"/>

Corresponding xsd schema:

<xs:complexType name="pointType">
  <xs:attribute name="guid" type="guidType" use="required"/>
  <xs:attribute name="id" type="xs:token" use="required"/>
  <xs:attribute name="x" type="xs:double" use="required"/>
  <xs:attribute name="y" type="xs:double" use="required"/>
  <xs:attribute name="z" type="xs:double" use="required"/>
</xs:complexType>

I would like to reference my point element in another element, e.g.:

<layer>
  <pointref guidref="5C815FB2-0731-4E88-9885-CFC49B8E7B92"/>
  <pointref guidref="4671EFD4-506F-4A61-BCF0-427875074115"/>
</layer>

I could achieve it using ID and IDREF types changing my point type definition in schema file:

<xs:attribute name="guid" type="xs:ID" use="required"/>

Question:

Is there any way to make xs:ID type to be of type GUID too ?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2128

Answers (1)

Petru Gardea
Petru Gardea

Reputation: 21638

Short answer is no. IDs are NCNAMEs, so a value with a digit in the first position would ruin it. While it may seem a bit more involved, using xsd:unique/xsd:key/xsd:keyref is considered by many the best way to achieve what you want when using XSD.

Just in case you might need a reference, you could start right here on SO.

Upvotes: 3

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