Facets Supported in "string"

XSD Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples - Version 5.10, by Dr. Herong Yang

XSD Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟Facets, Constraining Facets and Restriction Datatypes

∟Facets Supported in "string"

This section describes fundamental facets and constraining facets supported in 'string' built-in datatype.

Since "string" is the most commonly used simple built-in datatype, let's look at it first to see how many facets are supported in "string".

The "string" datatype has the following settings for its fundamental facets defined:

    ordered = false
    bounded = false
    cardinality = countably infinite
    numeric = false

The "string" datatype supports the following constraining facets:

    whiteSpace = preserve
    length = undefined
    minLength = undefined
    maxLength = undefined
    pattern = undefined
    enumeration = undefined
    assertions = undefined

Here is a sample schema, string_datatype_facet.xsd, that uses "string" datatype with different restriction facets:

<?xml version="1.1"?>
<!-- string_datatype_facet.xsd
 - Copyright (c) 2013, HerongYang.com, All Rights Reserved.
-->
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<xs:element name="String_Datatype_Facet">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element name="canadaAddress" maxOccurs="unbounded">
       <xs:complexType>

        <!-- Using "minLength" to restrict the string -->
        <xs:attribute name="street">
         <xs:simpleType>
          <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
           <xs:minLength value="5"/>
          </xs:restriction>
         </xs:simpleType>
        </xs:attribute>
     
        <!-- Using "whiteSpace" to restrict the string -->
        <xs:attribute name="city">
         <xs:simpleType>
          <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
           <xs:whiteSpace value="collapse"/>
          </xs:restriction>
         </xs:simpleType>
        </xs:attribute>
     
        <!-- Using "length" to restrict the string -->
        <xs:attribute name="provinceCode">
         <xs:simpleType>
          <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
           <xs:length value="2"/>
          </xs:restriction>
         </xs:simpleType>
        </xs:attribute>
     
        <!-- Using "pattern" to restrict the string -->
        <xs:attribute name="zip">
         <xs:simpleType>
          <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
           <xs:pattern value="[A-Z][0-9][A-Z] [0-9][A-Z][0-9]"/>
          </xs:restriction>
         </xs:simpleType>
        </xs:attribute>

       </xs:complexType>
     </xs:element>
    </xs:sequence>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:schema>

Here is a sample XML document, string_datatype_facet.xml, to test the above XSD document:

<?xml version="1.1"?>
<!-- string_datatype_facet.xml
 - Copyright (c) 2013, HerongYang.com, All Rights Reserved.
-->
<String_Datatype_Facet>
   
   <!-- Valid attribute values -->
   <canadaAddress
    street="770 Don Mills"
    city="Toronto"
    provinceCode="ON"
    zip="M3C 1T3"
   />
   
   <!-- Inalid attribute values -->
   <canadaAddress
    street="7 M."
    city="  Toronto "
    provinceCode="Ontario"
    zip="M3C LT3"
   />
</String_Datatype_Facet>

When validating this XML document with my XsdSchemaValidator.java program presented earlier in the book, I get these errors:

c:\Progra~1\Java\jdk1.7.0_07\bin\java XsdSchemaValidator 
   string_datatype_facet.xsd string_datatype_facet.xml

Error:
   Line number: 21
   Column number: 6
   Message: cvc-minLength-valid: Value '7 M.' with length = '4' is not
   facet-valid with respect to minLength '5' for type 
   '#AnonType_streetcanadaAddressString_Datatype_Facet'.

Error:
   Line number: 21
   Column number: 6
   Message: cvc-attribute.3: The value '7 M.' of attribute 'street'
   on element 'canadaAddress' is not valid with respect to its type, 
   'null'.

Error:
   Line number: 21
   Column number: 6
   Message: cvc-length-valid: Value 'Ontario' with length = '7' is not
   facet-valid with respect to length '2' for type 
   '#AnonType_provinceCodecanadaAddressString_Datatype_Facet'.

Error:
   Line number: 21
   Column number: 6
   Message: cvc-attribute.3: The value 'Ontario' of attribute 
   'provinceCode' on element 'canadaAddress' is not valid with respect
   to its type, 'null'.

Error:
   Line number: 21
   Column number: 6
   Message: cvc-pattern-valid: Value 'M3C LT3' is not facet-valid with
   respect to pattern '[A-Z][0-9][A-Z] [0-9][A-Z][0-9]' for type 
   '#AnonType_zipcanadaAddressString_Datatype_Facet'.

Error:
   Line number: 21
   Column number: 6
   Message: cvc-attribute.3: The value 'M3C LT3' of attribute 'zip' on
   element 'canadaAddress' is not valid with respect to its type, 
   'null'.

Failed with errors: 6

Last update: 2013.

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 API

XML Schema Language - Basics

Introduction of XSD Built-in Datatypes

"string" and Its Derived Datatypes