XSD Mixed Content

A mixed complex type element can contain attributes, elements, and text.

Complex Types with Mixed Content

An XML element, "letter", that contains both text and other elements:

<letter>
Dear Mr. <name>John Smith</name>.
Your order <orderid>1032</orderid>
will be shipped on <shipdate>2001-07-13</shipdate>.
</letter>

The following schema declares the "letter" element:

<xs:element name="letter">
<xs:complexType mixed="true">
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element name="name" type="xs:string"/>
      <xs:element name="orderid" type="xs:positiveInteger"/>
      <xs:element name="shipdate" type="xs:date"/>
    </xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Note: To enable character data to appear between the child-elements of "letter", the mixed attribute must be set to "true". The <xs:sequence> tag means that the elements defined (name, orderid and shipdate) must appear in that order inside a "letter" element.

We could also give the complexType element a name, and let the "letter" element have a type attribute that refers to the name of the complexType (if you use this method, several elements can refer to the same complex type):

<xs:element name="letter" type="lettertype"/>

<xs:complexType name="lettertype" mixed="true">
<xs:sequence>
    <xs:element name="name" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:element name="orderid" type="xs:positiveInteger"/>
    <xs:element name="shipdate" type="xs:date"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>

❮ Previous Next ❯