Importing Declarations Across Namespaces - "import" Component

This section describes how to import declarations from other schema documents under other namespaces using import components.

Earlier in this chapter, we learned how to use the "include" component to merge element declarations and type definitions from old schema documents into new schema documents.

The "include" component only works if both old and new schema documents are having no same namespace or having the same namespace.

If element declarations or type definitions needs merged or referenced across different namespaces, we need to use the "import" component, which has the following basic rules:

Rule 1. The XML representation of an "import" component is an "import" element.

Rule 2. The "import" element must have the "namespace" attribute to specify the target namespace of the schema document to be imported.

Rule 3. The "import" element may have the "schemaLocation" attribute to specify where to fetch the schema document to be imported.

Rule 4. The imported namespace must be declared in the schema root with a prefix using "xmlns:xx="import-namespace"".

Rule 5. To use (or refer to) an element declaration from the imported schema, the "ref" attribute must be used on the element component.

In order to practice the "import" component, let's write a simple schema document, xhtml.xsd, assigned to the target namespace of "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml":

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsd:schema xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
   targetNamespace="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

 <xsd:annotation>
  <xsd:documentation>xhtml.xsd
 - Copyright (c) 2002-2013 HerongYang.com. All Rights Reserved.
  </xsd:documentation>
 </xsd:annotation>

 <xsd:element name="p" type="xsd:anyType"/>
 <xsd:element name="pre" type="xsd:anyType"/>
 <xsd:element name="blockquote" type="xsd:anyType"/>
 <xsd:element name="ul" type="xsd:anyType"/>
 <xsd:element name="ol" type="xsd:anyType"/>

</xsd:schema>

Obvious, this is not a real schema document for the XHTML specification. But the real one will definitely have those elements declared.

In the next tutorial, we will write a new schema assigned to a different target namespace and try to import some declarations from xhtml.xsd.

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 Introduction to XML Schema

 XML Editor and Schema Processor - XMLPad

 Java API for XML Processing - JAXP

 JAXP - XML Schema (XSD) Validation

 Xerces2 Java Parser - Java API of XML Parsers

 Using Xerces2 Java APIs

 XML Schema Language - Basics

 Introduction of XSD Built-in Datatypes

 "string" and Its Derived Datatypes

 "decimal" and Its Derived Datatypes

 "dateTime" and Its Related Datatypes

 Miscellaneous Built-in Datatypes

 Facets, Constraining Facets and Restriction Datatypes

 "simpleType" - Defining Your Own Simple Datatypes

 Complex Element Declaration

 Identity-Constraints: unique, key and keyref

 Assertion as Custom Validation Rules

 XML Schema Location and Namespace in XML Documents

 Overriding Element Types in XML Documents

Linking Multiple Schema Documents Together

 Schema Component Reuse - "include", "redefine" or "import"

 Including Old Schema Documents - "include" Component

 Including Old Schema Documents - Examples

 Including Old Schema Documents - Errors

 Redefining Old Datatypes - "redefine" Component

 Redefining Old Datatypes - XML Examples

 Redefining Old Datatypes - Errors

Importing Declarations Across Namespaces - "import" Component

 Importing Declarations Across Namespaces - Examples

 Using Elements Declared in Different Namespaces

 Using Elements Declared in Different Namespaces - Errors

 Glossary

 Archived Tutorials

 References

 Full Version in PDF/EPUB