"Joe Fawcett" <joefawcett@n...> wrote in message
news:962BAD5A-BA0F-4D25-AC5C-E9A2CF72564E@m......
>
>
> "Water Cooler v2" <wtr_clr@y...> wrote in message
> news:c1e90f7f-e3d2-4a6a-9dda-dd009b67db05@m......
> > Sorry for asking this beginner question.
> >
> > I've written DTDs so far and read about XML Schemas. I understand that
> > they are a replacement of the DTD fundamentally, and therefore allow
> > for the validation of an XML document.
> >
> > My question really is:
> >
> > Why do we need XML Schemas other than for validation of an XML
> > document? I am more interested in knowing if already available
> > "common" XML tools such as the MSXML parser, or DOM Level 3
> > implementations in today's browsers can do something like:
> >
> > a) read an XML Schema;
> > b) then, read the XML document that is defined in the schema;
> > c) ?? magic ?? read some translation rules (an XSLT file?) that says,
> > for instance, that <xs:element name="foo" type="xs:string" /> 's value
> > must go to the column "bar" of this SQL Server database, etc., etc.
> >
> > So, my question really is, can the available XML tools in the market
> > from major vendors read an XML Schema, and then not simply validate an
> > XML document but also read some translation rules from an XSLT file
> > and do the transformation without a developer having to write any
> > bespoke application on his part, if he just writes the XML, XSD and
> > XSLT sheet?
> In general tool support is the other big feature of schemas. Visual
Studio,
> and other development environments, XMLSpy">XMLSpy etc, offer auto-completion if
> the document you are constructing, an XSLT for example, has a schema
> available. So when you type xsl:a.. you'll get a choice of
xsl:apply-imports
> or xsl:apply-templates.
>
> -- 
>
> Joe Fawcett (MVP - XML)
> http://joe.fawcett.name
>

If I may further add to or clarify the question:
If one is not using tools for creating XML or XSLT documents, if one is
programmatically creating the XML, is in full control of the creation and
translation, not needing to verify outside sources of XML, is there any need
for creating a schema?