Schema: yes or No

Well formed XML needs an additional step in order to properly validate the structure and vocabulary of the document. One method of this validation is using and XML schema, also known as the XML Schema Definition (XSD). (Barnette et al., 2004) Does this format for validation use the best structural methods to express vocabulary and properties in XML markup or could other options such as the DTD specification have provided similar benefits. The XSD structure and components should be discussed in detail in order to provide the best answer to this query.

Components

The Schema structure consists of the following workings to properly identify and define necessary attributes, elements, constraints and validation rules; such as the components defined by properties which are further defined by values noted by Barnette et al. (2004).

The workings of XSD; (Barnette, 2004) (Fawcett et al, 2012)(N/A,2000)

• Best practice necessitates and document with a .xsd extension

• Being XML the XML version statement is required i.e. “”

• Next a namespace declaration which becomes the XML root element “”

• Component properties and definitions (tag descriptions, attributes and designations) such as “”

These basic rules allow user defined as well as built-in data types to define information which allows the schema to be extensible just as XML itself. (N/A, 2001). With these basic structural boundaries in the Schema benefits noted are; (N/A,2001)

• Standards based definitions

• Expansion of well formed guidelines to prevent errors in processing

• XML parsing, editing and manipulation

• Namespace support allowing for complex or simple schema con...

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