Creating multiple element name with sequence. - xsd

Question

Below is the sample xml which has multiple <rulex> that starts with sequence 1 and it can end up to many rule like <rule1> , <rule2>, <rule3> etc....
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<AddressChange_181>
<rules>
<rule1>
<conditions>xya</conditions>
<response_path>abc</response_path>
</rule1>
<rule2>
<conditions>xxxx</conditions>
<response_path>aaaa</response_path>
</rule2>
<rule3>
<conditions>yyyyy</conditions>
<response_path>ffff</response_path>
</rule3>
<rule4>
<conditions>zzzz</conditions>
<response_path>yyyy</response_path>
</rule4>
<default>
<response_path>uuuuu</response_path>
</default>
</rules>
</AddressChange_181>
Below is the schema where i tried creating dynamic <rulex> element name for the above xml.
when i generate xml from this schema i do not get the same xml format as above xml.
can you please let me know how to create schema with multiple element name that starts with a sequence number.
My requirement is to add more than one rule (<rule1>,<rule2>,<rule3> etc...) in xml file and this xml file should be validated against schema.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<xs:element name="mock_rule_list">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element ref="rules" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name="rules">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element ref="rule" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
<xs:element ref="default" maxOccurs="1"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name="rule">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:simpleContent>
<xs:restriction base="xs:anyType">
<xs:pattern value="rule/d{1,3}"></xs:pattern>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleContent>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element ref="conditions" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
<xs:element ref="response_path" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name="default">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element ref="response_path"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name="conditions" type="xs:string">
</xs:element>
<xs:element name="response_path" type="xs:string"/>
</xs:schema>
Thanks,
Madhu

Answer 1

There is no way to define such a structure using XSD if the number of ruleX tags is arbitrarily defined. If you can constrain the upper bound to a maximum, and you really have to stick with ruleX naming convention, than you can define a complex type such as ruleType, then a bunch of rule1, rule2,... , ruleN elements of that type - I would call this messy... I wouldn't recommend this.
XSD (with a maximum of 6):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<xs:element name="mock_rule_list">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element ref="rules" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name="rules">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element ref="rule1" minOccurs="0"/>
<xs:element ref="rule2" minOccurs="0"/>
<xs:element ref="rule3" minOccurs="0"/>
<xs:element ref="rule4" minOccurs="0"/>
<xs:element ref="rule5" minOccurs="0"/>
<xs:element ref="rule6" minOccurs="0"/>
<xs:element ref="default"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:complexType name="ruleType">
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element ref="conditions" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
<xs:element ref="response_path" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
<xs:element name="default">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element ref="response_path"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name="conditions" type="xs:string">
</xs:element>
<xs:element name="response_path" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name="rule1" type="ruleType"/>
<xs:element name="rule2" type="ruleType"/>
<xs:element name="rule3" type="ruleType"/>
<xs:element name="rule4" type="ruleType"/>
<xs:element name="rule5" type="ruleType"/>
<xs:element name="rule6" type="ruleType"/>
</xs:schema>
Alternatively, you could have a tag named "rule" with a #sequence attribute.
XSD:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<xs:element name="mock_rule_list">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element ref="rules" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name="rules">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element ref="rule" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
<xs:element ref="default"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
<xs:unique name="SequenceKey">
<xs:selector xpath="rule"/>
<xs:field xpath="#sequence"/>
</xs:unique>
</xs:element>
<xs:complexType name="ruleType">
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element ref="conditions" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
<xs:element ref="response_path" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
</xs:sequence>
<xs:attribute name="sequence" type="xs:int" use="required"/>
</xs:complexType>
<xs:element name="default">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element ref="response_path"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name="conditions" type="xs:string">
</xs:element>
<xs:element name="response_path" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name="rule" type="ruleType"/>
</xs:schema>
Sample XML:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<!-- Sample XML generated by QTAssistant (http://www.paschidev.com) -->
<rules xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<rule sequence="1">
<conditions>conditions1</conditions>
<response_path>response_path1</response_path>
</rule>
<rule sequence="2">
<conditions>conditions2</conditions>
<response_path>response_path2</response_path>
</rule>
<default>
<response_path>response_path1</response_path>
</default>
</rules>
Or it could also be that one could simply use the index of the <rule/> within the parent collection .