Re: [xsl] Documenting XML schema: a schema-to-XHTML stylesheet?

["Mike Haarman" <mhaarman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> cannot be fully expressed in either XDR or
> XSD, but (from what I've read in Jeni Tennison's tutorials) *might* be able
> to be described via Schematron.

This makes me wonder whether you oughtn't, if possible, redefine your schema to
something more expressible.

<elementX>
  <this>
    <elementX1>...</elementX1>
    <elementX2>...</elementX2>
  </this>
</elementX>

<elementX>
  <that>
    <elementX3>...</elementX3>
    <elementX4>...</elementX4>
  </that>
</elementX>


> This is because, in this XML document type, allowable child elements vary,
> depending on the value of an attribute in the parent element.

<snip/>

> When I start thinking about writing a schema-to-XHTML XSLT stylesheet that
> takes into account such rules (that is, allowable child elements depending
> on an attribute value in the parent element), my head starts to throb and my
> vision goes blurry ;-).

It shouldn't.  This is a garden-variety problem for XSL.  But if those
constraints are expressed within the logic of the stylesheet, they will
apparently need be documented in prose rather than XSD.

> but I'm loathe to give up the "dream" of using a schema with XSLT to produce
> documentation for an XML document type.

I am no longer dreaming of using a merely well-formed, ad-hoc XML instance
documenting the elements and attributes of my doctype as the basis for
generating both the XSD and the stylesheets for a particular application.

Which is the cart and which the horse?

hth,

Mike


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