Summary

In this chapter, I introduced XML Schema as the preferred language for describing the content model of XML documents. This chapter covered these topics:

• A detailed overview of the XMLSPY Schema Design view, including navigating an XML Schema, understanding of the different windows, and configuring all the different user options

• Building a modular XML Schema using XMLSPY consisting using a top-down design methodology and then using that XML Schema to edit and validate XML Schema files

• Constraining the value space of simple types through the use of facets and other restrictions

• An introduction to namespaces, the problems that they solve, and how to declare and reference namespaces inside your XML Schema and related XML instance document

• A detailed technical overview of XML Schema syntax including a discussion on simple types, complex types, global elements, global types

• Publishing a completed XML Schema to the Web using the XMLSPY documentation generator

In the next chapter, I cover some more advanced XML Schema design topics including a more in-depth discussion on using multiple namespaces, deriving complex types, and the use of XML Schema in conjunction with relational databases and hybrid relational native XML databases.