XML Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples - v5.25, by Herong Yang
ELEMENT - Element Declaration Statement
This section describes syntax formats of the ELEMENT statement, which is used to declare an element in this document type. The ELEMENT statement specifies what is the name of the element, and what is structure of its content.
ELEMENT: is a DTD statement that defines an XML element. The ELEMENT statement specifies what is the name of the element, and what is structure of its content.
The syntax for ELEMENT statement is:
<!ELEMENT element_name content_expression>
"content_expression" is made of key words, element names, expressional symbols, and grouping parentheses. Elements can be declared as one of the following 5 content modes:
1. Empty Content: No text or child element is allowed in the content.
<!ELEMENT element_name EMPTY>
2. Parsed Text Content: Only parsed text is allowed in the content. Parsed text is a string of regular characters and XML entities. No child element is allowed in the content.
<!ELEMENT element_name (#PCDATA)>
3. Element Sequence Content: Only one or more named elements are allowed in the content. The named elements must appear in the same sequence as they are specified in the declaration statement. No text is allowed in the content. Element sequence content is declared by a sequence of child element names, expressional symbols and grouping parentheses. Examples of element sequence content are:
<!ELEMENT element_name (e) > <!ELEMENT element_name (e?) > <!ELEMENT element_name (e+) > <!ELEMENT element_name (e*) > <!ELEMENT element_name (e,f) > <!ELEMENT element_name (e,f)? > <!ELEMENT element_name (e,f)+ > <!ELEMENT element_name (e|f)* > <!ELEMENT element_name (e,(f|g)) >
where:
4. Mixed Content: Parsed text and named elements are allowed in the content. Mixed content must be declared in the following syntax:
<!ELEMENT element_name (#PCDATA | e | f | ...)* >
5. Any Content: Parsed text and any elements are allowed in the content. Any content is declared by key word, ANY:
<!ELEMENT element_name ANY>
Note that:
Table of Contents
Introduction of XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
DOM (Document Object Model) Programming Interface
SAX (Simple API for XML) Programming Interface
DTD (Document Type Definition) Introduction
DOCTYPE - Document Type Declaration Statement
►ELEMENT - Element Declaration Statement
ATTLIST - Attribute List Declaration Statement
ENTITY - Entity Declaration Statement
dictionary_dtd.xml - XML DTD Document Type Example
Validating an XML Document against the Specified DTD Document Type
XSD (XML Schema Definition) Introduction
Validating XML Documents Against Specified XML Schemas
XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language) Introduction
XSLT (XSL Transformations) Introduction
XSLT Elements as Programming Statements
Control and Generate XML Element in the Result
PHP Extensions for XML Manipulation
Processing XML with Python Scripts
XML Tools Plugin for Notepad++
XML Plugin Packages for Atom Editor