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| | XML Schema Tools from Altova
What is XML Schema?XML Schema was born out of a need to provide a more powerful and flexible alternative to the standard DTD (Document Type Definition), a schema language for expressing SGML and XML content models. Though many DTDs are still in use today in legacy document frameworks, industry standards, and even often used in tandem with XSDs, XML Schema offers a lengthy list of advantages for defining XML documents. The XML Schema recommendation consists of three parts:
XML Schema Part 0: Primer Second Edition provides a very useful “quick start” guide for schema developers and is designed to be used in tandem with the more definitive descriptions in Parts 1 and 2, and assumes a basic knowledge of XML and namespaces. XML Schema Part 1: Structures defines the nature and general make up of the XML Schema recommendation, and provides detailed information about schema construction and application with sections including Conceptual Framework, Schema Component Details, and Schemas and Schema-validity Assessment. This section of the specification depends on and refers directly to other W3C publications: XML Information Set, XML Namespaces, and XPath, as well as the XML Schema: Datatypes. XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes describes and defines the strong datatyping capabilities of the XML Schema recommendation and is included as a separate document to enable it to be used as an independent entity and therefore portable to other XML tools and technologies. Datatyping allows schema designers to constrain the input of end-users through the application of recognized abstract concepts such as string, Boolean, integer, etc. Advantages & General UsageIntegration & AccessibilityOne of the most obvious and powerful advantages that XML Schemas hold over DTDs is that they are, in fact, defined as XML documents themselves, making them programmatically accessible to developers and enabling them to add an enormous amount of flexibility to system architectures. XML Schemas can be stored along with other XML documents in XML architectures and data stores and manipulated, referenced, and styled using a growing number of XML companion tools like XPath, XQuery, XInclude/XPointer, and XSL. For example, used in conjunction with other XML technologies, such as XSLT and XML-enabled databases, global elements defined in XSDs can be processed consistently and uploaded to the appropriate database structure or even simultaneously output to HTML, RTF, PDF, and Word 2007+ (OOXML). DatatypingXML Schema provides a powerful mechanism for specifying datatypes for XML elements and attributes. This ability to incorporate advanced constraints for document content enables schema designers to control the validity of end-user input in a variety of ways unavailable in DTD. The XML Schema recommendation provides 44 built-in datatypes, which can be further customized to add additional guidance to scalar data input. XML Schema provides 12 restrictions, or facets, which define acceptable data values (e.g. length, enumeration, totalDigits). The datatypes provided in XML Schema facilitate complex document exchange and data integration scenarios, giving it exposure to the B2B and e-commerce architectures that traditionally employ other data formats like EDI. NamespacesXML Schema’s support for namespaces enables XML documents to contain unique identifiers, and therefore incorporate more than one commonly used vocabulary at a time. A namespace declaration, or binding, is generally declared in an XML document via an IRI (Internationalized Resource Identifier), and is expressed by applying a prefix to relevant elements and attributes. Namespaces provide enormous data integration opportunities, enabling entire XML frameworks to coexist within the same architecture. This is an extremely valuable asset for a global economy, where mergers and acquisitions, supply chain requirements, and industry standards often dictate heterogeneous data constructs. Industry StandardsIndustry XML standards aim to streamline and provide a basis for industry-wide data integration. Implementing a common XML vocabulary enables business partners to seamlessly exchange data across different systems and architectures. XML Schema provides a flexible and extremely portable method for defining these standards and has been used across an ever-growing number of industries including retail, telecommunications, financial services, human resources, healthcare, insurance, e-learning, and printing and publishing. Global data integration based on XML documentation, exchange, and infrastructure standards seems, however, to be a long way off. Compliance is usually voluntary, and there are often several different industry-specific standards to choose from. In addition, many of these specifications are still evolving, making it business and technology decisions increasingly difficult. Despite these hurdles, the ability to create a flexible and extensible architecture provided by XML Schema and other XML technologies enables early adopters and forward thinking companies to easily adapt to changing industry mandates with resources such as XSLT, XPath, XQuery, and XML-enabled databases. There are several key industry standards efforts that have a strong following and are paving the way for data integration and interoperability. These include: DITA, DocBook, SCORM, ACORD, FIXML, cXML, and XBRL. Altova Tools for XML SchemaXMLSpy®The graphical XML Schema editor in Altova XMLSpy simplifies XML Schema development, introducing sophisticated visual schema management capabilities, and thus removing much of the complexity associated with hand-coding. Schemas can be developed using the graphical schema design interface, and the corresponding XML code is generated in real-time and can be viewed and edited in text view.
XMLSpy also includes a code generator that outputs class files in Java, C++, or C# according to a data model defined in XML Schema. This code is royalty-free and may be used in your own software applications.
To accelerate XML Schema development and leverage existing resources, XMLSpy can generate a standards-conformant XML Schema based on sample XML instance documents and can convert DTDs and other content models into XML Schemas. In addition, with support for all major relational databases, XMLSpy can generate an XML Schema from a relational database, import data into an XML instance from a relational database using an XML Schema, and generate a relational database schema from an XML Schema.
XMLSpy also includes an option to generate detailed documentation describing XML Schemas in HTML, Microsoft® Word, RTF, and other formats. This enables non-technical stakeholders to collaborate on content model structure and requirements. Optional customization of the generated documentation is available via StyleVision integration.
The Web Services Description Language (WSDL) uses XML Schema to define datatypes. The XMLSpy Schema view also includes an integrated WSDL view that support visualization, editing, and validation of WSDL files. The ability to develop WSDL files in the same environment as the associated XML Schemas and instance documents simplifies and accelerates the development of Web services applications.
UModel®Altova UModel® includes a special diagram type and code generation for XML Schema, enabling developers who are more familiar with UML modeling components to view their schemas in a format similar to UML class diagrams.
SchemaAgent®XML Schema enables a modular approach to designing advanced schemas by allowing developers to use xs:include, xs:import, and xs:redefine (IIR) to compose complex schemas out of simpler components. This modular approach to schema design provides several advantages, such as facilitating resource reuse, separating parts of a schema for simplification or business purposes, and extending existing schemas easily. Despite these advantages, the process of managing complex schemas that consist of multiple inter-dependent files is a real challenge, especially in team environments where multiple users manage schema development. Altova SchemaAgent enables documentation architects to graphically view and manage relationships and connections between schemas and between schemas and related XML instance, XSLT, and WSDL files. SchemaAgent also provides a graphical representation of the relationships between XML Schemas used in MapForce data mapping projects.
To facilitate component reuse, SchemaAgent supports full integration with the graphical XML Schema editor in XMLSpy, making SchemaAgent schemas and their components (elements, attributes, groups, complex and simple types, etc.) accessible when editing an XML Schema in XMLSpy.
MapForce®MapForce provides powerful functionality for mapping between XML Schemas and databases (as well as flat files, EDI, Excel 2007+ (OOXML), XBRL, and Web services).
With the increasing use of XML as a data format comes the need to integrate XML Schemas with other prevalent content models, the most popular being relational databases, flat file formats (text, CSV, etc.), and EDI formats such as UN/EDIFACT, ANSI X12, and Health Level 7 (HL7). Such integration allows organizations to truly realize the value of interconnected business systems. MapForce supports integration of XML with all these formats, enabling visual mappings and data processing rules to be easily designed for conversion projects. Then, MapForce generates XSLT 1.0/2.0 or XQuery code to map XML Schemas to other XML Schemas, or Java, C++, or C# program code to map any combination of XML, database, flat file, EDI, Excel 2007+, XBRL, and Web service data. The additional functionality of the MapForce Engine allows the execution of one-time mappings and immediately saves the output of a transformation.
In addition, both MapForce and Altova StyleVision® support behind-the-scenes XML Schema generation, enabling developers and designers to integrate data and design stylesheets based on data structures implied by an XML instance.
StyleVision®Altova StyleVision is a graphical stylesheet design tool that enables users to graphically design output in multiple media based on XML, XBRL, and database structures. Output code is generated simultaneously in XSLT and XSL:FO for HTML, RTF, PDF, Word 2007+ (OOXML), and Authentic® electronic forms.
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