XML Schema Problem

Wee · 4 Jan 2008 at 16:05

I'm creating an XML document covering one of the groups in the Champoins League, and using a Schema to make sure it's valid and what not.

It's almost done, but I've hit a snag. I have a complex element, called goals, that contains another element, called scorer. It looks like this:

Code:

<goals>
   <scrorer number="1" time="62mins" team="Manchester United">Wayne Rooney</scrorer>
</goals>

My problem is that a game may finish 0 - 0, resulting in no goals, meaning that the scorer element won't be needed. Is there anyway in the Schema (or any other way) to take this into consideration?

Cheers.

Sic · 4 Jan 2008 at 16:07

<goals/>

I'm guessing you won't need any scorers, but the closed element will represent zero for you nicely

for your schema, you might want to use a single <scorer/> element rather than omitting it altogether, depending on how you're working it

Wee · 4 Jan 2008 at 16:25

This is my first go at XML, so bare with me as I'm not totally sure what you mean.

Does the <goal/> mean it will become an empty element? And if so, where does the scorer element fit into all of this?

Sic · 4 Jan 2008 at 16:31

yeah, I was just thinking that for your schema to validate, you'll probably have to use:

Code:

<goals>
  <scorer/>
</goals>

rather than just <goals/> - and yes, it becomes an empty element

Wee · 4 Jan 2008 at 16:42

Ah, got'cha.

So all the data for the element <scorer>, now that it is becoming an empty element, will need to be an attribute? Like so:

Code:

<goal>
<scorer number="1" time="62mins" player="Wayne Rooney" team="Manchester United"/>
</goal>

Sic · 4 Jan 2008 at 16:59

if it's a 0-0 game, there won't be any scorers though will there? an empty element (<scorer/>) and a full element (<scorer>Wayne Rooney</scorer>) are interchangeable in a valid schema. there's no need to add player attribute - only use the empty element if there's no scorers, otherwise, as you were doing in the OP

Wee · 4 Jan 2008 at 17:24

Ah, it just clicked. Big thanks for your help Sic, much appreciated.

Sic · 4 Jan 2008 at 18:57

no problem. glad I could help

TheCrow · 5 Jan 2008 at 19:51

BUMP (mainy aimed at Sic):

EDIT FOR UPDATE:

I can now validate xs:string with the us of nillable="true" but this wont work for integer. google isnt helping much.

an empty element (<scorer/>) and a full element (<scorer>Wayne Rooney</scorer>) are interchangeable in a valid schema.

I am having very similar problems on validating empty elements (in my case empty elements with no attributes which i think is what causing the prob)

xml

Code:

 <REDCARDS>
    <NAME/>
    <TIME/>
 </REDCARDS>

So an complex element REDCARDS containing elements that may or may not be empty with no attributes.

how could i validate this in my Schema?

(what i have so far but not validating it)

xsd

Code:

 <xs:element name="REDCARDS" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
            <xs:complexType>
                 <xs:sequence>
                     <xs:element name="NAME" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" nillable="yes"/>
                     <xs:element name="TIME" type="xs:integer" minOccurs="0"/>
                  </xs:sequence>
            </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>