Designer 10.7 | webMethods Service Development Help | Working with Schemas | What Does an IS Schema Look Like? | Schema Browser
 
Schema Browser
The Schema browser displays the components of an IS schema in a format that mirrors the structure and content of the source file. The Schema browser groups the global element declarations, attribute declarations, simple type definitions, and complex type definitions from the source file under the top-level headings ELEMENTS, ATTRIBUTES, SIMPLE TYPES, and COMPLEX TYPES. For example, the ELEMENTS heading contains all of the global element declarations from the XML schema or the DTD.
If the source file does not contain one of these global components, the corresponding heading is absent. For example, if you create an IS schema from an XML schema that does not contain any global attribute declarations, the Schema browser does not display the ATTRIBUTES heading. An IS schema created from a DTD never displays the SIMPLE TYPES or COMPLEX TYPES headings because DTDs do not contain type definitions.
Note:
A DTD does contain attribute declarations. However, the Schema browser does not display the ATTRIBUTES heading for IS schemas generated from DTDs. This is because an attribute declaration in a DTD associates the attribute with an element type. Accordingly, the Schema browser displays attributes as children of the element type declaration to which they are assigned.
The Schema browser uses unique symbols to represent the components of the IS schema. Each of these symbols relates to a component of an XML schema or a DTD. The following table identifies the symbol for each component that can appear in an IS schema.
Note:
In the following table, global refers to elements, attributes, and types declared or defined as immediate children of the <schema> element in an XML schema. All element type declarations in a DTD are considered global declarations.
Symbol
Description
ELEMENTS. Used to group together the global element declarations in an IS schema. This symbol and category name do not correspond to a component in an XML Schema definition or a DTD.
Element declaration. An element declaration associates an element name with a type definition. This symbol corresponds to the <element> declaration in an XML schema definition and the ELEMENT declaration in a DTD.
Element reference. An element reference is a reference from an element declaration in a content specification to a globally declared element.
In an IS schema generated from an XML schema, this symbol corresponds to the ref="globalElementName" attribute in an <element> declaration.
In an IS schema generated from DTD, this symbol appears next to an element that is a child of another element. The parent element has only element content.
Any element declaration. In XML schema definition, an <any> element declaration is a wildcard declaration used as a placeholder for one or more undeclared elements in an instance document.
In a DTD, an element declared to be of type ANY can contain any well-formed XML. This symbol corresponds to an element declared to be of type ANY.
Because an <any> element declaration does not have a name, the Schema browser uses 'Any' as the name of the element.
ATTRIBUTES. Used to group together the global attribute declarations in an IS schema. This symbol and category name do not correspond to a component in an XML Schema definition or a DTD.
Attribute declaration. An attribute declaration associates an attribute name with a simple type definition. This symbol corresponds to the XML schema <attribute> declaration or the attribute in a DTD ATTLIST declaration.
Attribute reference. An attribute reference is a reference from a complex type definition to a globally declared attribute. This symbol corresponds to the ref="globalAttributeName" attribute in an attribute declaration.
DTDs do not have attribute references. Consequently, attribute references do not appear in IS schemas generated from DTDs.
Any attribute declaration. An any attribute declaration is a wildcard declaration used as a placeholder for undeclared attributes in an instance document. This symbol corresponds to the <anyAttribute> declaration in an XML schema definition.
Because an <anyAttribute> declaration does not specify an attribute name, the Schema browser uses 'Any' as the name of the attribute.
SIMPLE TYPES. Used to group together the global simple type definitions in an IS schema. This symbol and category name do not correspond to a component in an XML Schema definition or a DTD.
Simple type definition. A simple type definition specifies the data type for a text-only element or an attribute. Unlike complex type definitions, simple type definitions cannot carry attributes. This symbol corresponds to the <simpleType> element in an XML schema definition.
If the simple type definition is unnamed (an anonymous type), the Schema browser displays 'Anonymous' as the name of the simple type definition.
COMPLEX TYPES. Used to group together the global complex type definitions in an IS schema. This symbol and category name do not correspond to a component in an XML Schema definition or a DTD.
Complex type definition. A complex type definition defines the structure and content for elements of complex type. (Elements of complex type can contain child elements and carry attributes.) This symbol corresponds to the <complexType> element in an XML schema definition.
If the complex type definition is unnamed (an anonymous type), the Schema browser displays 'Anonymous' as the name of the complex type definition.
Sequence content model. A sequence content model specifies that the child elements in the instance document must appear in the same order in which they are declared in the content model. This symbol corresponds to the <sequence> compositor in an XML schema or a sequence list in an element type declaration in a DTD.
Choice content model. A choice content model specifies that only one of the child elements in the content model can appear in the instance document. This symbol corresponds to the <choice> compositor in an XML schema definition or a choice list in a DTD element type declaration.
All content model. An all content model specifies that child elements can appear once, or not at all, and in any order in the instance document. This symbol corresponds to the <all> compositor in an XML schema definition.
Mixed content. Elements that contain mixed content allow character data to be interspersed with child elements. This symbol corresponds to the mixed="true" attribute in an XML schema complex type definition or a DTD element list in which the first item is #PCDATA.
Empty content. In an XML schema, an element has empty content when its associated complex type definition does not contain any element declarations. An element with empty content may still carry attributes.
In a DTD, an element has empty content when it is declared to be of type EMPTY.