"NMTOKEN" Datatype Values and Representations

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∟"NMTOKEN" Datatype Values and Representations

This section describes the built-in datatype 'NMTOKEN' designed to support XML 'NMTOKEN' attribute values. 'NMTOKEN' datatype is derived from 'token' by restricting the value set according the XML 'NMTOKEN' specification.

The third datatype derived from "token" is "NMTOKEN", which is designed to support "NMTOKEN" attribute values defined in the XML 1.1 specification.

"NMTOKEN" (stands for Name Token) is a datatype derived from "token" datatype by limiting values to those satisfy the following pattern defined in XML 1.1:

NameStartChar::= ([:A-Z_a-z\xC0-\xD6\xD8-\xF6\xF8-\u02FF]|
                  [\u0370-\u037D\u037F-\u1FFF\u200C-\u200D]|
                  [\u2070-\u218F\u2C00-\u2FEF\u3001-\uD7FF]|
                  [\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFFD\u010000-\u0EFFFF]
NameChar     ::= (NameStartChar|[-.0-9\xB7\u0300-\u036F\u203F-\u2040])
NMTOKEN      ::= (NameChar)+

If you comparing this pattern with the "Name" datatype pattern, you will see that "NMTOKEN" value set is slightly bigger than "Name" value set. "NMTOKEN" values accept [-.0-9\xB7\u0300-\u036F\u203F-\u2040] as the first non white-space character.

Here is a sample XSD document that defines a sub element <NMTOKEN> to use "NMTOKEN" values:

<?xml version="1.1"?>
<!-- NMTOKEN_datatype_test.xsd
 - Copyright (c) 2002-2013 HerongYang.com. All Rights Reserved.
-->
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<xs:element name="NMTOKEN_Datatype_Test">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element name="NMTOKEN" type="xs:NMTOKEN"
        maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
    </xs:sequence>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:schema>

Here is a sample XML document that contains <NMTOKEN> elements to test that definition:

<?xml version="1.1"?>
<!-- NMTOKEN_datatype_test.xml
 - Copyright (c) 2002-2013 HerongYang.com. All Rights Reserved.
-->
<NMTOKEN_Datatype_Test>
<!-- 6 valid "NMTOKEN" elements -->
  <NMTOKEN>NMTOKEN_datatype_test</NMTOKEN>
  <NMTOKEN>     html  </NMTOKEN>
  <NMTOKEN>   xs:token</NMTOKEN>
  <NMTOKEN>    .htaccess </NMTOKEN>
  <NMTOKEN>   &#x5934;</NMTOKEN>
  <NMTOKEN>   2nd_place</NMTOKEN>

<!-- 4 invalid "NMTOKEN" elements -->
  <NMTOKEN>complex Type</NMTOKEN>
  <NMTOKEN>      (html)</NMTOKEN>
  <NMTOKEN>    xs+token</NMTOKEN>
  <NMTOKEN>    &#x3000;</NMTOKEN>
</NMTOKEN_Datatype_Test>

Run the JDK tool XsdSchemaValidator.java again, you will see 4 groups of errors for the last 4 invalid elements. But error messages do not provide the "NMTOKEN" string pattern

herong> java XsdSchemaValidator
^^^ NMTOKEN_datatype_test.xsd NMTOKEN_datatype_test.xml

...

Error:
   Line number: 17
   Column number: 34
   Message: cvc-datatype-valid.1.2.1: 'xs+token' is not a valid value
   for 'NMTOKEN'.

Error:
   Line number: 17
   Column number: 34
   Message: cvc-type.3.1.3: The value 'xs+token' of element 'NMTOKEN'
   is not valid.

Error:
   Line number: 18
   Column number: 34
   Message: cvc-datatype-valid.1.2.1: '?' is not a valid value for
   'NMTOKEN'.

Error:
   Line number: 18
   Column number: 34
   Message: cvc-type.3.1.3: The value '?' of element 'NMTOKEN' is not
   valid.

Failed with errors: 8