text in XML tag

Hello,

I need something like this

"<element1> some text here
<element2></element2>
</element1>"
(please ignore the double quotes)

The problem is that element1 should be unbounded so I don't specify the type and make element2 its child.
But as element1 is of no particular type, so text can't be added to it.
If I make element1 as string/integer type then I can't add element2 as element1 is of a particular type.

Please advise.

Thanks.

XML has no notion of types, so there must be something else in play that you didn't mention. Are you using a library or some other piece of software that restricts what can be added to the XML? Is there maybe an XML Schema that applies? TellTheDetails.

Hi Ulf,

Thanks for the quick response.

Below is the schema I'm using

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xs:schema xmlns:sc="http://www.xmlexample.com/source" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" targetNamespace="http://www.xmlexample.com/source" elementFormDefault="qualified" attributeFormDefault="unqualified">
	<xs:element name="article">
		<xs:annotation>
			<xs:documentation>root element</xs:documentation>
		</xs:annotation>
		<xs:complexType>
			<xs:sequence>
				<xs:element name="title" type="xs:string"/>
				<xs:element name="date" type="xs:string"/>
				<xs:element name="copyright" type="xs:string"/>
				<xs:element name="abstract" type="xs:string"/>
				<xs:element name="keywords" type="xs:string"/>
				<xs:element name="section" maxOccurs="unbounded" >
					<xs:complexType>
						<xs:sequence>
							<xs:element name="title" type="xs:string"/>
						</xs:sequence>
					</xs:complexType>
				</xs:element>
			</xs:sequence>
			<xs:attribute name="fname" type="xs:string"/>
		</xs:complexType>
	</xs:element>
</xs:schema>

This is the xml file for above schema :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sc:article xmlns:sc="http://www.xmlexample.com/source" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.xmlexample.com/source file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/ptalek/My%20Documents/Altova/XMLSpy2011/sourceproject2.xsd">
	<sc:title>XML Style Sheets</sc:title>
	<sc:date>January 1999</sc:date>
	<sc:copyright>1999, Benoit Marchal</sc:copyright>
	<sc:abstract>Style sheets add flexibility to document viewing.</sc:abstract>
	<sc:keywords>XML,XSL,style sheet, publishing, web</sc:keywords>
	<sc:section>
		Send comments and suggestions to <url protocol="mailto">barchal@pineapplesoft.com</url>.
	</sc:section>
	
	<sc:section>
		<sc:title>Styling</sc:title>
		
		Style sheets are inherited from SGML, an XML ancestor. Style sheets originated in publishing and document management applications. XSL is XML's standard style sheet, see <url>http://www.w3.org/Style</url>.
				
	</sc:section>
	<sc:section>
		<sc:title>How XSL Works</sc:title>
		An XSL style sheet is a set of rules where each rule specifies how to format certain elements in the document. To continue the example from the previous section, the style sheets have rules for title, paragraphs and keywords.
		With XSL, these rules are powerful enough not only to format the document but also to reorganize it, e.g. by moving the title to the front page or extracting the list of keywords. This can lead to exciting applications of XSL outside the realm of traditional publishing. For example, XSL can be used to convert documents between the company specific markup and a standard one.
	</sc:section>
	<sc:section>
		<sc:title>The Added Flexibility of Style Sheets</sc:title>
		Style sheets are separated from documents. Therefore one document can have more than one style sheet and, conversely, one style sheet can be shared amongst several documents.
		This means that a document can be rendered differently depending on the media or the audience. For example, a "managerial" style sheet may present a summary view of a document that highlights key elements but a "clerical" style sheet may display more detailed minformation.
	</sc:section>
</sc:article>

This is the error message I get while trying to validate the xml file:-
Text '"

Send comments and suggestions to <url protocol="mailto">barchal@pineapplesoft.com</url>.

"' is not allowed for element <sc:section>. The element declaration's content type is 'element-only.

The xml schema is validated.

If you want to transport HTML in a validated XML document you need to use CDATA sections to hide the HTML, or escape the special XML characters by using < > etc.

hI Ulf,

I already had CDATA section but got the same error again.

Post the XML that uses CDATA.

The CDATA use is as follows :-

<sc:title>XML Style Sheets</sc:title>
	<sc:date>January 1999</sc:date>
	<sc:copyright>1999, Benoit Marchal</sc:copyright>
	<sc:abstract>Style sheets add flexibility to document viewing.</sc:abstract>
	<sc:keywords>XML,XSL,style sheet, publishing, web</sc:keywords>
	<sc:section>
		Send comments and suggestions to <url protocol="mailto">barchal@pineapplesoft.com</url>.
	</sc:section>
	
	<sc:section>
		<sc:title>Styling</sc:title>
		
		Style sheets are inherited from SGML, an XML ancestor. Style sheets originated in publishing and document management applications. XSL is XML's standard style sheet, see <url>http://www.w3.org/Style</url>.
				
	</sc:section>
	<sc:section>
		<sc:title>How XSL Works</sc:title>
		An XSL style sheet is a set of rules where each rule specifies how to format certain elements in the document. To continue the example from the previous section, the style sheets have rules for title, paragraphs and keywords.
		With XSL, these rules are powerful enough not only to format the document but also to reorganize it, e.g. by moving the title to the front page or extracting the list of keywords. This can lead to exciting applications of XSL outside the realm of traditional publishing. For example, XSL can be used to convert documents between the company specific markup and a standard one.
	</sc:section>
	<sc:section>
		<sc:title>The Added Flexibility of Style Sheets</sc:title>
		Style sheets are separated from documents. Therefore one document can have more than one style sheet and, conversely, one style sheet can be shared amongst several documents.
		This means that a document can be rendered differently depending on the media or the audience. For example, a "managerial" style sheet may present a summary view of a document that highlights key elements but a "clerical" style sheet may display more detailed minformation.
	</sc:section>
</sc:article>

The <![CDATA[ ...code..]]> gets removed after posting.

The start code is this :-

<sc:section>
<![CDATA[Send comments and suggestions to <url protocol="mailto">barchal@pineapplesoft.com</url>.
</sc:section>

and the end code is :-

This means that a document can be rendered differently depending on the media or the audience. For example, a "managerial" style sheet may present a summary view of a document that highlights key elements but a "clerical" style sheet may display more detailed minformation.]]>

The error message is :-

Text 'Send comments and suggestions to <url protocol="mailto">barchal@pineapplesoft.com</url>.' is not allowed for element <sc:section>. The element declaration's content type is 'element-only'.

I tried out this one too, but the same error :-

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sc:article xmlns:sc="http://www.xmlexample.com/source" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.xmlexample.com/source file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/ptalek/My%20Documents/Altova/XMLSpy2011/sourceproject2.xsd">
	<sc:title>XML Style Sheets</sc:title>
	<sc:date>January 1999</sc:date>
	<sc:copyright>1999, Benoit Marchal</sc:copyright>
	<sc:abstract>Style sheets add flexibility to document viewing.</sc:abstract>
	<sc:keywords>XML,XSL,style sheet, publishing, web</sc:keywords>
	<sc:section>
		<![CDATA[Send comments and suggestions to <url protocol="mailto">barchal@pineapplesoft.com</url>.]]>
	</sc:section>
	
	<sc:section>
		<sc:title>Styling</sc:title>
		<![CDATA[Style sheets are inherited from SGML, an XML ancestor. Style sheets originated in publishing and document management applications. XSL is XML's standard style sheet, see <url>http://www.w3.org/Style</url>.]]>
	</sc:section>
	
	<sc:section>
		<sc:title>How XSL Works</sc:title>
	<![CDATA[An XSL style sheet is a set of rules where each rule specifies how to format certain elements in the document. To continue the example from the previous section, the style sheets have rules for title, paragraphs and keywords.
		
		With XSL, these rules are powerful enough not only to format the document but also to reorganize it, e.g. by moving the title to the front page or extracting the list of keywords. This can lead to exciting applications of XSL outside the realm of traditional publishing. For example, XSL can be used to convert documents between the company specific markup and a standard one.]]>
	</sc:section>
	
	<sc:section>
		<sc:title>The Added Flexibility of Style Sheets</sc:title>
		<![CDATA[Style sheets are separated from documents. Therefore one document can have more than one style sheet and, conversely, one style sheet can be shared amongst several documents.
		This means that a document can be rendered differently depending on the media or the audience. For example, a "managerial" style sheet may present a summary view of a document that highlights key elements but a "clerical" style sheet may display more detailed minformation.]]>
	</sc:section>
</sc:article>

As long as is in there you'll likely have problems, since that makes it mixed content. Try escaping it using < and >. As it is, the document isn't even well-formed, since the tags have no closing tags.

I'm not an XML Schema expert, though, so there may be better approaches to this.

Hi Ulf,

I tried out &l t; (ignore the space between l & t) as well as < but got the same error again and again.
I removed "" as you said, but no effect on the error message.

I thought it went without saying that you need to treat all other HTML tags (like <url>) the same way.

I can't remove the url tag as it is necessary for me to have it.
If I remove it then there is no meaning left for CDATA as well.

Also, even though the p tag doesn't need an end tag, the document is well formed after I test it and the book I'm using for reference does show "</" p>.

Should I keep just one CDATA tag for the entire document or have it for each section tag?
If CDATA ignores the markup tags then what is the use of writing &l t; instead of "<" in CDATA[ ] as both serve the same purpose.

I can't remove the url tag as it is necessary for me to have it.

I didn't say "remove it", I said "escape it". You'd need to un-escape it before you can use the payload as HTML, just like with the tag.

Also, even though the p tag doesn't need an end tag

It does if you use it in an XML document - otherwise the document is not well-formed. Alternatively, you can use "".

Should I keep just one CDATA tag for the entire document or have it for each section tag?

CDATA is for the payload, not for the actual XML tags. So you'd need them for each section tag.

If CDATA ignores the markup tags then what is the use of writing &l t; instead of "<" in CDATA[ ] as both serve the same purpose.

Yes, only one of these is necessary, not both.

I didn't say "remove it", I said "escape it". You'd need to un-escape it before you can use the payload as HTML, just like with the
tag.

Yes, only one of these is necessary, not both.

Even If I try with either &l t; or < for the url tag, I get the same error.

Note:-I have used the escape characters instead of<, > in the url tag above.

I can get the XML document to validate if I

escape "p" and "url" elements

add mixed="true" to the complexType declaration

add minOccurs="0" to the "element title" declaration

Hi Ulf,

I have set the title element's minOccur =0, that's fine and also used escape characters for tags.
Let me see on Monday what I've used for mixed.

Thanks for the advice.

Cheers.

Gute Nacht.

Hi Ulf,

It's working fine.

Thanks for the help.

Could you please tell me what mixed="true" does.

Cheers.

See the page on mixed content in this XML Schema tutorial: http://www.w3schools.com/schema/default.asp

Awesome!
Thanks a lot.