XML Schema and SOAP Resources
Last Modified:
July 1, 2002
Note: SOAP, ebXML, UDDI, WSDL, etc. will someday be moved into a separate XML page.
May 2, 2001: XSD became a W3C Recommendation! Read
the Press Release
and Testimonials.
- RELAX NG (Next Generation)
- [pronounced "relax-ing"] an OASIS effort begun in the summer of 2001 that combines RELAX and TREX;
does not change the information set of an XML document, supports XML namespaces,
treats attributes uniformly with elements so far as possible,
has unrestricted support for unordered and mixed content,
can be combined with XML Schema datatypes.
- RELAX NG Compact Syntax -
June 2002; describes a compact, non-XML syntax for RELAX NG;
has similarities to DTDs, XQuery Formal Semantics, and XDuce
- Trang
- translates schemas written in RELAX NG into different formats (e.g., to a DTD)
- Jing
- validator for RELAX NG implemented in Java
- Schematron - Rick Jelliffe;
popular alternative to XML Schema;
an XML Structure Validation Language using Patterns in Trees
currently undergoing ISO standardization
- Examplotron - Eric van der Vlist;
uses instance documents as a lightweight schema language
- RELAX (REgular LAnguage description for XML)
and How to RELAX documentation -
RELAX is a specification for
describing XML-based language, published in March 2000 as a
JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards) Technical Resolution.
[JIS is the bedrock of the
JSA (Japanese Standards Association).]
Like W3C's XML Schemas, RELAX grammars are represented in XML
instance syntax. XHTML 1.0, for example, can be described in RELAX.
RELAX borrows rich datatypes from XML Schema and is namespace-aware.
RELAX can be implemented easily and quickly. When XML Schema is
available, migration from RELAX to XML Schema will be possible without
loss of datatype information. RELAX is not controlled by any private
company. [Thanks to Sam Hunting for this explanation.]
- TREX -
Tree Regular Expressions for XML by James Clark; see RELAX NG.
Listed in chronological order.
- XML-Data -
Jan. 1998; a W3C Note by Microsoft, ArborText, University of Edinburgh,
DataChannel, and Inso Corporation
[first schema effort; pre-dated W3C's XML 1.0 Recommendation]
- XML-Data Reduced (XDR) -
July 1998; Charles Frankston and Henry S. Thompson
refined and subsetted the Microsoft XML-Data Note; used in
BizTalk
- Document Content Description (DCD) for XML -
Aug. 1998; a W3C Note by Tim Bray, Charles Frankston and Ashok Malhotra;
subsetted XML-Data in RDF syntax and added primitive datatypes
- Schema for Object-oriented XML (SOX) -
Sept. 1998, revised July 1999; a W3C Note by Commerce One, Inc. (earlier version from Veo Systems);
added extensible datatypes, inheritance, namespaces, polymorphic content, and more
- Document Definition Markup Language (DDML) (previously known as XSchema) -
Jan. 1999; a W3C Note by Ronald Bourret, John Cowan, Ingo Macherius, and Simon St. Laurent
- Schematron - an XML Structure Validation Language using Patterns in Trees -
Oct. 1999; by Rick Jelliffe, Academia Sinica Computing Centre; uses patterns similar to XPath and XSLT;
can be used in conjunction with the grammer-based schemas (XML-Data, SOX, etc.)
- Datatypes for DTDs (DT4DTD) -
Nov. 1999; by Extensibility, Charles F. Goldfarb, Paul Prescod; leverages XML Schema datatypes in DTDs
- Datatypes for DTDs (DT4DTD) 1.0 -
submitted to W3C by Extensibility, Charles F. Goldfarb, Paul Prescod.
Abstract: "The presented specification allows legacy systems that may presently be unable to convert their
DTD markup declarations to XML Schema, to utilize XML Schema conformant datatypes."
See DT4DTD Java SDK and documentation and
W3C's comment on DT4DTD submission.
- Schema Adjunct Framework (SAF) -
November 2000; from TIBCO Extensibility;
used to associate domain-specific data with schemas and their instances, effectively
extending the power the schema
- Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) 1.1 - May 2000;
W3C Note (not officially a W3C activity);
submitted by DevelopMentor, IBM, Lotus Development Corporation, Microsoft, and UserLand Software.
See more about SOAP elsewhere on this page.
- SOAP 1.2 - Dec. 2001; produced by the XML Protocol Working Group (WG),
which is part of the Web Services Activity
(formerly XML Protocol Activity)
Listed in reverse chronological order.
- All Schema articles on XML.com
- XML Schema Clinic -
June 2002; by Will Provost for XML.com; new series of articles
- DSDL Examined -
June 2002; by Leigh Dodds for XML.com; covers
Document Schema Definition Languages,
Van der Vlist's XML Validation Interoperability Framework (XVIF), and more.
- RELAX NG's Compact Syntax -
June 2002; by Michael Fitzgerald for XML.com
- Can XML Be The Same After W3C XML Schema? -
June 2002; by Eric van der Vlist for XML.com
- The IETF, Best Practices and XML Schemas -
June 2002; by Leigh Dodds for XML.com; when the IETF declared XML Schema as
the schema language, fans of RELAX NG started flames
- Filling in the DTD Gaps with Schematron
May 2002; by Bob DuCharme for XML.com
- Beyond W3C XML Schema-
April 2002; by Will Provost for XML.com;
describes a "multiple-stage validation process that begins with schema
validation, but also uses XPath and XSLT to assert
constraints on document content that are too complex or
otherwise inappropriate for W3C XML Schema."
- An XML Validation Architecture Using XML Schema, XPath, and XSLT -
February 2002; by Will Provost
- RELAX NG, Compared -
January 2002; by Eric van der Vlist for XML.com; introduction to RELAX NG by comparison to XML Schema
- Comparing XML Schema Languages -
December 2001; by Eric van der Vlist for XML.com; highly recommended;
compares features of DTDs, W3C XML Schema, RELAX NG, Schematron, and Examplotron.
- XML Schema Tutorial -
revised May 2002 or later; Roger Costello's excellent XML Schema tutorial
with examples and labs based on the final XML Schema Recommendation of May 2001
- XML Schemas: Best Practices -
a set of Schema Design Guidelines created by discussions on xml-dev;
updated November 2001; Roger Costello
- Using W3C XML Schema -
October 2001; by Eric van der Vlist for XML.com [excellent short intro, updated to reflect
final W3C Recommendation]
- Uses for Sun's Multi-Schema XML Validator -
October 2001; by Kohsuke Kawaguchi for Sun Developer Connection
- Modeling XML Vocabularies with UML: part 1,
part 2,
and part 3 -
August - October 2001; by Dave Carlson for XML.com
- Understanding W3C Schema Complex Types -
August 2001; by Donald Smith for XML.com; highly recommended
- W3C XML Schema Made Simple -
June 2001; Kohsuke Kawaguchi for XML.com
- TREX Basics -
April 2001; J. David Eisenberg for XML.com
- Schemas by Example -
March 2001; Leigh Dodds for XML.com
- XML.com's Schema Tutorials list
- Using W3C XML Schema -
Part 1 and
part 2 -
November to December 2000; Eric van der Vlist for XML.com
- XML.com: XML 2000 Focuses on XML Schema -
December 2000; Eric van der Vlist for XML.com.
- The Role of an Extensible, Polymorphic Schema Language for Electronic Commerce Communities -
December 2000; Matt Fuchs, Commerce One,
as reported by Ken Sall, WDVL.
- Validation with Java and XML Schema -
Part 1,
Part 2,
Part 3 and
Part 4 -
September to December 2000; Brett McLaughlin for JavaWorld.
- Understanding ebXML, UDDI and XML/edi -
November 2000; David Webber and Anthony Dutton
- Learning to RELAX -
October 2000; J. David Eisenberg
- Basics of using XML Schema to define elements -
August 2000; Ashvin Radiya
- XML's Grand Schema -
August 2000; Yasser Shohoud
- Extending XHTML
(Using Modularization and Schemas to Good use in Current and Future XHTML/XML Documents) -
August 2000; Sean Palmer
- XML schema design for business-to-business e-commerce;
June 2000; Arofan T. Gregory at XML Europe 2000
- XML Schema types and equivalence classes (reconstructing DTD best practice);
June 2000; Henry S. Thompson at XML Europe 2000
- DTDs vs. XML Schemas for Data-centric Java Technology-based Applications;
June 2000; Simon St.Laurent, Ken Sall, and Troy Ames at JavaOne
- Generic Data Models and Schemas;
May 2000; Jeff Lowery for XML.com
- Relax, and Take it Easy
March 2000; Simon St.Laurent for XML.com
- XML Schemas: Setting Rules for XML Documents; Mar. 2000; Simon St.Laurent (Software Development presentation)
- Spotlight on Schemas
Feb. 2000; Leigh Dodds for XML.com
- Inside SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) -
Feb. 2000; Don Box for XML.com
- Schema Repositories: What's at Stake? -
Jan. 2000; Liora Alschuler for XML.com
- XML Schema: An Intensive One-Day Tutorial -
Dec. 1999; Henry Thompson's XML'99 presentation;
also PowerPoint and
additional materials
- Schemas Take DTDs to the Next Level -
Dec. 1999; Norbert Mikula and Ken Levy
- Describing your Data: DTDs and XML Schemas -
Dec. 1999; good survey of past and current approaches by Simon St. Laurent
- Eskimo Snow and Scottish Rain: Legal Considerations of Schema Design -
Dec. 1999; Joseph Reagle
- XML and Databases -
Dec. 1999; Ronald Bourret
- Family Tree of Schema Languages for Markup Languages -
date unknown [late 1999?]; Rick Jelliffe
- Schemas & XML -
date unknown [late 1999?]; Rick Jelliffe
- Introduction to XML DTDs -
date unknown [early 1999?]; Rick Jelliffe
- XMLSchema.com - Best Practices -
date unknown; good collection of articles from the Extensibility folks
- Modeling Relational Data with XML -
date unknown; by Extensibility
- XML Representation for EDI X12 -
Oct. 1999; by XMLSolutions
- The Cambridge Communiqué on Web Data Models -
Oct. 1999; by W3C
- Schemas for XML (Understanding XML Schema) -
July 1999; nice, concise overview (based on early Working Drafts) by Norman Walsh
- XML Schema Developer's Guide - Microsoft, circa May 1999
- Representing the XML Schema as a DTD - Microsoft, circa May 1999
- UML as a Schema Language for XML based Data Interchange -
May 1999; David Skogan
- W3C's List of Schema Tools
including W3C's own XSV, an Open Source XML Schema Validator
by Henry S. Thompson and Richard Tobin.
[Note to W3C: Please give XSV a permanent URL.]
- XML.com's W3C XML Schema Tools Guide - updated Dec. 2001
- Apache Xerces,
based in part on
IBM's XML4J,
supports the XML Schema Recommendation.
- Oracle XML Developer's Kit -
the XDK has a validator that is in sync with the XML Schema specs
- Turbo XML from
TIBCO Extensibility
- a multi-platform integrated Development Environment (IDE) for developing and managing
XML assets. With facilities for creating, validating, converting, and managing XML schemas,
XML files and DTDs;
support for DTD, XDR, BizTalk, SOX 2.0, RELAX, XML Schema, and several others.
Turbo XML includes XML Authority for schema creation and conversion,
XML Instance for document editing,
and XML Console for batch conversion and validation.
- Extensibility also offers
XML Validate
for validating streaming
XML documents or messages against an XML Schema or DTD and
other XML solutions as well.
- XML Spy by Altova is a
Windows-only Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for XML that includes:
XML editing and validation, Schema/DTD editing and validation, and
XSL editing and transformation;
supports DTD, DCD, XDR, BizTalk, and W3C XML Schemas.
XML Spy 4.x includes a
Browser Plug-In that allows live XML content editing from any desktop.
- Topologi Schematron Validator
- validates Schematron, DTDs, XSD, RELAX NG and embedded Schematron
- Sun Multi-Schema XML Validator (MSV)
supports RELAX NG, RELAX Namespace, RELAX Core, TREX, XML DTDs, and a subset of W3C XML Schema Part 1.
The validator can be used as a command-line tool (to validate XML documents against a schema or DTD)
or as a library (to validate documents or to manipulate schemas from inside a Java application).
- IBM XML Schema Quality Checker
- dtd2xs,
a DTD to XML Schema translator and
xsbrowser
to navigate a DTD or XML-Schema
- Stylus Studio
from eXcelon Corp. [formerly Object Design Inc.];
a development environment for defining XML schemas and creating and styling documents
- XDRtoXSD - freeware
from IBM alphaWorks for converting Microsoft's
XDR to XML Schema (XSD).
- Visual XML Tools -
IBM's suite of four tools includes Visual DTD which can generate a schema
plus Java classes from a DTD (and can generate a DTD from an XML instance,
generate XML samples from a DTD, import DTDs for structured viewing, and create DTDs)
- DT4DTD (Datatypes for DTDs) -
from extensibility;
provides an extensible architecture for custom datatypes, as well
as support for datatypes defined in XML Schema and XML-Data
- XMLSolutions Business Integration Platform
[formerly XEDI Translator, ExeterXML Server, and Schema Central]
- The Schematron -
by Rick Jelliffe, Academia Sinica Computing Centre
- W3C's XML Schema Working Group - a public description
on XML Activities page (search for "schema")
- W3C's XML Schema Working Group (W3C Members Only)
- W3C's XML Schema page (Tools, Usage, Specifications and Development)
- Robin Cover's XML Schema page -
provides more details about many of the specs and some of the papers listed on this page
- XML.com's Schema, part of XML Resource Guide
- James Tauber's SCHEMA.NET [server may be down]
- XML.org
- BizTalk.org
(especially the schema library [registration required])
- SOAP sites:
SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)
is a protocol specification for invoking methods on servers,
services, components and objects that formalizes
the use of XML and HTTP as a method invocation mechanism. The 3 parts
defined by the protocol are:
"an envelope that defines a framework for describing
what is in a message and how to process it, a set of encoding rules for expressing instances of
application-defined datatypes, and a convention for representing remote procedure calls and
responses."
- Open Applications Group, Inc. (OAGI)
(especially their 180 or more mature Business Object Documents (BODs)
and white paper)
- ebXML (Electronic Business XML) -
an international initiative established by UN/CEFACT and OASIS
- xCBL - Commerce One's Common Business Library
(especially SOX)
- Extensible and More: A Survey of XML Business Data Exchange Vocabularies
especially the Verticals list
- Extensibility's XMLSchema site
- XEDI - translates EDI to XML and vice versa
- UDDI - Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration
- WSDL - Web Services Description Language
Submit additions or corrections to Ken Sall
for consideration.
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