如何转换不同用途的基本XML模式？

Question

This is more of question of technique or tools to use rather than a how-to.

I have an XML Schema that is used by the development team for parsing input and output and automatic code generation.

The schema is designed for developers. However there are other uses for this schema that have different needs. For example the developer schema is strongly typed, however the user schema will need to be weakly typed to allow wildcard replacement. Another example are the appinfo annotations that are used by the developer tools. These would be stripped out of the user schema.

For example, this:

<xs:complexType name="ModelA">
 <xs:annotation id="ModelA" >
  <xs:appinfo>
    <dev_type>AObject</dev_type>
    <function id="AFunction">
      <parameters>
        <parameter>P1</parameter>
        <parameter>P2</parameter>
      </parameters>
    </function>
  </xs:appinfo>
  <xs:documentation>
    <description>A model. Used by A in Camelot.</description>
  </xs:documentation>
</xs:annotation>
<xs:complexContent>
  <xs:extension base="dbs:Models">
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element name="RoundTables" type="xs:decimal"/>
      <xs:element name="ClarkGable" type="xs:boolean"/>
      <xs:element name="SequinVests" type="xs:decimal"/>
      <xs:element name="Opera" type="xs:string"/>
    </xs:sequence>
  </xs:extension>
</xs:complexContent>

Would become this:

<xs:complexType name="ModelA">
  <xs:annotation id="ModelA" >
   <xs:documentation>
     <description>A model. Used by A in Camelot.</description>
   </xs:documentation>
  </xs:annotation>
  <xs:complexContent>
   <xs:extension base="dbs:Models">
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element name="RoundTables" type="xs:string"/>
      <xs:element name="ClarkGable" type="xs:string"/>
      <xs:element name="SequinVests" type="xs:string"/>
      <xs:element name="Opera" type="xs:string"/>
    </xs:sequence>
   </xs:extension>
 </xs:complexContent>

Would XSLT be useful here? Or could I load the schema as XML and use XPath to find and delete/modify tags and attributes?

Answer 1

Yes, XSLT would be ideal for transforming from a base to a derived XSD.

For example, this simple XSLT based on the identity transformation,

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" 
                xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
                xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
  <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>
  <xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>

  <xsl:template match="@*|node()">
    <xsl:copy>
      <xsl:apply-templates select="@*|node()"/>
    </xsl:copy>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="xs:appinfo"/>

  <xsl:template match="@type">
    <xsl:attribute name="type">xs:string</xsl:attribute>
  </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

takes your input XSD,

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <xs:complexType name="ModelA">
    <xs:annotation id="ModelA" >
      <xs:appinfo>
        <dev_type>AObject</dev_type>
        <function id="AFunction">
          <parameters>
            <parameter>P1</parameter>
            <parameter>P2</parameter>
          </parameters>
        </function>
      </xs:appinfo>
      <xs:documentation>
        <description>A model. Used by A in Camelot.</description>
      </xs:documentation>
    </xs:annotation>
    <xs:complexContent>
      <xs:extension base="dbs:Models">
        <xs:sequence>
          <xs:element name="RoundTables" type="xs:decimal"/>
          <xs:element name="ClarkGable" type="xs:boolean"/>
          <xs:element name="SequinVests" type="xs:decimal"/>
          <xs:element name="Opera" type="xs:string"/>
        </xs:sequence>
      </xs:extension>
    </xs:complexContent>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:schema>

and transforms it to your output XSD,

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
   <xs:complexType name="ModelA">
      <xs:annotation id="ModelA">
         <xs:documentation>
            <description>A model. Used by A in Camelot.</description>
         </xs:documentation>
      </xs:annotation>
      <xs:complexContent>
         <xs:extension base="dbs:Models">
            <xs:sequence>
               <xs:element name="RoundTables" type="xs:string"/>
               <xs:element name="ClarkGable" type="xs:string"/>
               <xs:element name="SequinVests" type="xs:string"/>
               <xs:element name="Opera" type="xs:string"/>
            </xs:sequence>
         </xs:extension>
      </xs:complexContent>
   </xs:complexType>
</xs:schema>

as requested.