Provided by: libxml-compile-perl_1.63-3_all 
NAME
XML::Compile::Schema - Compile a schema into CODE
INHERITANCE
XML::Compile::Schema
is a XML::Compile
XML::Compile::Schema is extended by
XML::Compile::Cache
SYNOPSIS
# compile tree yourself
my $parser = XML::LibXML->new;
my $tree = $parser->parse...(...);
my $schema = XML::Compile::Schema->new($tree);
# get schema from string
my $schema = XML::Compile::Schema->new($xml_string);
# get schema from file (most used)
my $schema = XML::Compile::Schema->new($filename);
my $schema = XML::Compile::Schema->new([glob "*.xsd"]);
# the "::Cache" extension has more power
my $schema = XML::Compile::Cache->new(\@xsdfiles);
# adding more schemas, from parsed XML
$schema->addSchemas($tree);
# adding more schemas from files
# three times the same: well-known url, filename in schemadir, url
# Just as example: usually not needed.
$schema->importDefinitions('http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema');
$schema->importDefinitions('2001-XMLSchema.xsd');
$schema->importDefinitions(SCHEMA2001); # from ::Util
# alternatively
my @specs = ('one.xsd', 'two.xsd', $schema_as_string);
my $schema = XML::Compile::Schema->new(\@specs); # ARRAY!
# see what types are defined
$schema->printIndex;
# create and use a reader
use XML::Compile::Util qw/pack_type/;
my $elem = pack_type 'my-namespace', 'my-local-name';
# $elem eq "{my-namespace}my-local-name"
my $read = $schema->compile(READER => $elem);
my $data = $read->($xmlnode);
my $data = $read->("filename.xml");
# when you do not know the element type beforehand
use XML::Compile::Util qw/type_of_node/;
my $elem = type_of_node $xml->documentElement;
my $reader = $reader_cache{$type} # either exists
||= $schema->compile(READER => $elem); # or create
my $data = $reader->($xmlmsg);
# create and use a writer
my $doc = XML::LibXML::Document->new('1.0', 'UTF-8');
my $write = $schema->compile(WRITER => '{myns}mytype');
my $xml = $write->($doc, $hash);
$doc->setDocumentElement($xml);
# show result
print $doc->toString(1);
# to create the type nicely
use XML::Compile::Util qw/pack_type/;
my $type = pack_type 'myns', 'mytype';
print $type; # shows {myns}mytype
# using a compiled routines cache
use XML::Compile::Cache; # separate distribution
my $schema = XML::Compile::Cache->new(...);
# Show which data-structure is expected
print $schema->template(PERL => $type);
# Error handling tricks with Log::Report
use Log::Report mode => 'DEBUG'; # enable debugging
dispatcher SYSLOG => 'syslog'; # errors to syslog as well
try { $reader->($data) }; # catch errors in $@
DESCRIPTION
This module collects knowledge about one or more schemas. The most important method provided is
compile(), which can create XML file readers and writers based on the schema information and some
selected element or attribute type.
Various implementations use the translator, and more can be added later:
"$schema->compile('READER'...)" translates XML to HASH
The XML reader produces a HASH from a XML::LibXML::Node tree or an XML string. Those represent the
input data. The values are checked. An error produced when a value or the data-structure is not
according to the specs.
The CODE reference which is returned can be called with anything accepted by dataToXML().
Example: create an XML reader
my $msgin = $rules->compile(READER => '{myns}mytype');
# or ... = $rules->compile(READER => pack_type('myns', 'mytype'));
my $xml = $parser->parse("some-xml.xml");
my $hash = $msgin->($xml);
or
my $hash = $msgin->('some-xml.xml');
my $hash = $msgin->($xml_string);
my $hash = $msgin->($xml_node);
with XML::Compile::Cache as schema object:
$rules->addPrefix(m => 'myns');
my $hash = $rules->reader('m:mytype')->($xml);
"$schema->compile('WRITER', ...)" translates HASH to XML
The writer produces schema compliant XML, based on a Perl HASH. To get the data encoding correctly,
you are required to pass a document object in which the XML nodes may get a place later.
Create an XML writer
my $doc = XML::LibXML::Document->new('1.0', 'UTF-8');
my $write = $schema->compile(WRITER => '{myns}mytype');
my $xml = $write->($doc, $hash);
print $xml->toString;
alternative
my $write = $schema->compile(WRITER => 'myns#myid');
with XML::Compile::Cache as schema object:
$rules->addPrefix(m => 'myns');
my $xml = $rules->writer('m:mytype')->($doc, $hash);
"$schema->template('XML', ...)" creates an XML example
Based on the schema, this produces an XML message as example. Schemas are usually so complex that
people loose overview. This example may put you back on track, and used as starting point for many
creating the XML version of the message.
"$schema->template('PERL', ...)" creates an Perl example
Based on the schema, this produces an Perl HASH structure (a bit like the output by Data::Dumper),
which can be used as template for creating messages. The output contains documentation, and is
usually much clearer than the schema itself.
"$schema->template('TREE', ...)" creates a parse tree
To be able to produce Perl-text and XML examples, the templater generates an abstract tree from the
schema. That tree is returned here. Be warned that the structure is not fixed over releases: add
regression tests for this to your project.
Be warned that the schema is not validated; you can develop schemas which do work well with this module,
but are not valid according to W3C. In many cases, however, the translater will refuse to accept
mistakes: mainly because it cannot produce valid code.
The values (both for reading as for writing) are strictly validated. However, the reader is sloppy with
unexpected attributes, and many other things: that's too expensive to check.
Extends "DESCRIPTION" in XML::Compile.
METHODS
Extends "METHODS" in XML::Compile.
Constructors
Extends "Constructors" in XML::Compile.
XML::Compile::Schema->new( [$xmldata], %options )
Details about many name-spaces can be organized with only a single schema object (actually, the data
is administered in an internal XML::Compile::Schema::NameSpaces object)
The initial information is extracted from the $xmldata source. The $xmldata can be anything what is
acceptable by importDefinitions(), which is everything accepted by dataToXML() or an ARRAY of those
things. You may also add any OPTION accepted by addSchemas() to guide the understanding of the
schema. When no $xmldata is provided, you can add it later with importDefinitions()
You can specify the hooks before you define the schemas the hooks work on: all schema information and
all hooks are only used when the readers and writers get compiled.
-Option --Defined in --Default
block_namespace []
hook undef
hooks []
ignore_unused_tags <false>
key_rewrite []
parser_options XML::Compile <many>
schema_dirs XML::Compile undef
typemap {}
block_namespace => NAMESPACE|TYPE|HASH|CODE|ARRAY
See blockNamespace()
hook => $hook|ARRAY
See addHook(). Adds one $hook (HASH) or more at once.
hooks => ARRAY
Add one or more hooks. See addHooks().
ignore_unused_tags => BOOLEAN|REGEXP
(WRITER) Usually, a "mistake" warning is produced when a user provides a data structure which
contains more data than is needed for the XML message which is created; this will show structural
problems. However, in some cases, you may want to play tricks with the data-structure and
therefore disable this precausion.
With a REGEXP, you can have more control. Only keys which do match the expression will be ignored
silently. Other keys (usually typos and other mistakes) will get reported. See "Typemaps"
key_rewrite => HASH|CODE|ARRAY
Translate XML element local-names into different Perl keys. See "Key rewrite".
parser_options => HASH|ARRAY
schema_dirs => $directory|ARRAY-OF-directories
typemap => HASH
HASH of Schema type to Perl object or Perl class. See "Typemaps", the serialization of objects.
Accessors
Extends "Accessors" in XML::Compile.
$obj->addHook($hook|LIST|undef)
A $hook is specified as HASH or a LIST of PAIRS. When "undef", this call is ignored. See addHooks()
and "Schema hooks" below.
$obj->addHooks( $hook, [$hook, ...] )
Add multiple hooks at once. These must all be HASHes. See "Schema hooks" and addHook(). "undef"
values are ignored.
$obj->addKeyRewrite($predef|CODE|HASH, ...)
Add new rewrite rules to the existing list (initially provided with new(key_rewrite)). The whole
list of rewrite rules is returned.
"PREFIXED" rules will be applied first. Special care is taken that the prefix will not be called
twice. The last added set of rewrite rules will be applied first. See "Key rewrite".
$obj->addSchemaDirs(@directories|$filename)
XML::Compile::Schema->addSchemaDirs(@directories|$filename)
Inherited, see "Accessors" in XML::Compile
$obj->addSchemas($xml, %options)
Collect all the schemas defined in the $xml data. The $xml parameter must be a XML::LibXML node,
therefore it is advised to use importDefinitions(), which has a much more flexible way to specify the
data.
When the object extends XML::Compile::Cache, the prefixes declared on the schema element will be
taken as default prefixes.
-Option --Default
attribute_form_default <undef>
element_form_default <undef>
filename undef
source undef
target_namespace <undef>
attribute_form_default => 'qualified'|'unqualified'
element_form_default => 'qualified'|'unqualified'
Overrule the default as found in the schema. Many old schemas (like WSDL11 and SOAP11) do not
specify the correct default element form in the schema but only in the text.
filename => FILENAME
Explicitly state from which file the data is coming.
source => STRING
An indication where this schema data was found. If you use dataToXML() in LIST context, you get
such an indication.
target_namespace => NAMESPACE
Overrule (or set) the target namespace in the schema.
$obj->addTypemap(PAIR)
Synonym for addTypemap().
$obj->addTypemaps(PAIRS)
Add new XML-Perl type relations. See "Typemaps".
$obj->blockNamespace($ns|$type|HASH|CODE|ARRAY)
Block all references to a $ns or full $type, as if they do not appear in the schema. Specially
useful if the schema includes references to old (deprecated) versions of itself which are not being
used. It can also be used to block inclusion of huge structures which are not used, for increased
compile performance, or to avoid buggy constructs.
These values can also be passed with new(block_namespace) and compile(block_namespace).
$obj->hooks( [<'READER'|'WRITER'>] )
Returns the LIST of defined hooks (as HASHes). [1.36] When an action parameter is provided, it will
only return a list with hooks added with that action value or no action at all.
$obj->useSchema( $schema, [$schema, ...] )
Pass a XML::Compile::Schema object, or extensions like XML::Compile::Cache, to be used as definitions
as well. First, elements are looked-up in the current schema definition object. If not found the
other provided $schema objects are checked in the order as they were added.
Searches for definitions do not recurse into schemas which are used by the used schema.
example: use other Schema
my $wsdl = XML::Compile::WSDL->new($wsdl);
my $geo = Geo::GML->new(version => '3.2.1');
# both $wsdl and $geo extend XML::Compile::Schema
$wsdl->useSchema($geo);
Compilers
Extends "Compilers" in XML::Compile.
$obj->compile( <'READER'|'WRITER'>, $type, %options )
Translate the specified ELEMENT (found in one of the read schemas) into a CODE reference which is
able to translate between XML-text and a HASH. When the $type is "undef", an empty LIST is returned.
The indicated $type is the starting-point for processing in the data-structure, a toplevel element or
attribute name. The name must be specified in "{url}name" format, there the url is the name-space.
An alternative is the "url#id" which refers to an element or type with the specific "id" attribute
value.
When a READER is created, a CODE reference is returned which needs to be called with XML, as accepted
by XML::Compile::dataToXML(). Returned is a nested HASH structure which contains the data from
contained in the XML. The transformation rules are explained below.
When a WRITER is created, a CODE reference is returned which needs to be called with an
XML::LibXML::Document object and a HASH, and returns a XML::LibXML::Node.
Many %options below are explained in more detailed in the manual-page XML::Compile::Translate, which
implements the compilation.
-Option --Default
abstract_types 'ERROR'
any_attribute undef
any_element undef
any_type <returns string or node>
attributes_qualified <undef>
block_namespace []
check_occurs <true>
check_values <true>
default_values <depends on backend>
elements_qualified <undef>
hook undef
hooks undef
ignore_facets <false>
ignore_unused_tags <false>
include_namespaces <true>
interpret_nillable_as_optional <false>
json_friendly <false>
key_rewrite []
mixed_elements 'ATTRIBUTES'
namespace_reset <false>
output_namespaces undef
path <expanded name of type>
permit_href <false>
prefixes {}
sloppy_floats <false>
sloppy_integers <false>
typemap {}
use_default_namespace <false>
validation <true>
xsi_type {}
xsi_type_everywhere <false>
abstract_types => 'ERROR'|'ACCEPT'
How to handle the use abstract types. Of course, they should not be used, but sometime they
accidentally are. When set to "ERROR", an error will be produced whenever an abstract type is
encountered. "ACCEPT" will ignore the fact that the types are abstract, and treat them as non-
abstract types.
any_attribute => CODE|'TAKE_ALL'|'SKIP_ALL'
[0.89, reader] In general, "anyAttribute" schema components cannot be handled automatically. If
you need to create or process anyAttribute information, then read about wildcards in the DETAILS
chapter of the manual-page for the specific back-end. [pre-0.89] this option was named
"anyElement", which will still work.
any_element => CODE|'TAKE_ALL'|'SKIP_ALL'
[0.89, reader] In general, "any" schema components cannot be handled automatically. If you need
to create or process any information, then read about wildcards in the DETAILS chapter of the
manual-page for the specific back-end. [pre-0.89] this option was named "anyElement", which will
still work.
any_type => CODE
[1.07] how to handle "anyType" type elements. Supported values depends on the backend,
specializations of XML::Compile::Translate.
attributes_qualified => "ALL"|"NONE"|BOOLEAN
[1.44] Like option "elements_qualified", but then for attributes.
block_namespace => NAMESPACE|TYPE|HASH|CODE|ARRAY
[reader] See blockNamespace().
check_occurs => BOOLEAN
Whether code will be produced to do bounds checking on elements and blocks which may appear more
than once. When the schema says that maxOccurs is 1, then that element becomes optional. When the
schema says that maxOccurs is larger than 1, then the output is still always an ARRAY, but now of
unrestricted length.
check_values => BOOLEAN
Whether code will be produce to check that the XML fields contain the expected data format.
Turning this off will improve the processing speed significantly, but is (of course) much less
safe. Do not set it off when you expect data from external sources: validation is a crucial
requirement for XML.
default_values => 'MINIMAL'|'IGNORE'|'EXTEND'
[reader] How to treat default values as provided by the schema. With "IGNORE" (the writer
default), you will see exactly what is specified in the XML or HASH. With "EXTEND" (the reader
default) will show the default and fixed values in the result. "MINIMAL" does remove all fields
which are the same as the default setting: simplifies. See "Default Values".
elements_qualified => "TOP"|"ALL"|"NONE"|BOOLEAN
When defined, this will overrule the use of namespaces (as prefix) on elements in all schemas.
When "ALL" or a true value is given, then all elements will be used qualified. When "NONE" or a
false value is given, the XML will not produce or process prefixes on any element.
All top-level elements (and attributes) will be used in a name-space qualified way, if they have a
targetNamespace. Some applications require some global element with qualification, so refuse
global elements which have no qualification. Using the "TOP" setting, the compiler checks that the
targetNamespace exists.
The "form" attributes in the schema will be respected; overrule the effects of this option. Use
hooks when you need to fix name-space use in more subtile ways.
With "element_form_default", you can correct whole schema's about their name-space behavior.
Change in [1.44]: "TOP" before enforced a name-space on the top-level. There should always be a
name-space on the top element. It got changed into that "TOP" checks that the globals have a
targetNamespace.
hook => $hook|ARRAY-OF-hooks
Define one or more processing $hooks. See "Schema hooks" below. These hooks are only active for
this compiled entity, where addHook() and addHooks() can be used to define hooks which are used for
all results of compile(). The hooks specified with the "hook" or "hooks" option are run before the
global definitions.
hooks => $hook|ARRAY-OF-hooks
Alternative for option "hook".
ignore_facets => BOOLEAN
Facets influence the formatting and range of values. This does not come cheap, so can be turned
off. It affects the restrictions set for a simpleType. The processing speed will improve, but
validation is a crucial requirement for XML: please do not turn this off when the data comes from
external sources.
ignore_unused_tags => BOOLEAN|REGEXP
[writer] Overrules what is set with new(ignore_unused_tags).
include_namespaces => BOOLEAN|CODE
[writer] Indicates whether the namespace declaration should be included on the top-level element.
If not, you may continue with the same name-space table to combine various XML components into one,
and add the namespaces later. No namespace definition can be added the production rule produces an
attribute.
When a CODE reference is passed, it will be called for each namespace to decide whether it should
be included or not. When true, it will we added. The CODE is called with a namespace, its prefix,
and the number of times it was used for that schema element translator.
interpret_nillable_as_optional => BOOLEAN
Found in the schema wild-life: people who think that nillable means optional. Not too hard to fix.
For the WRITER, you still have to state NIL explicitly, but the elements are not constructed. The
READER will output NIL when the nillable elements are missing.
json_friendly => BOOLEAN
[1.55] When enabled, booleans will be blessed in Types::Serialiser booleans. Floats get nummified.
Together, this will make the output of the reader usable as JSON without any further conversion.
key_rewrite => HASH|CODE|ARRAY
Add key rewrite rules to the front of the list of rules, as set by new(key_rewrite) and
addKeyRewrite(). See "Key rewrite"
mixed_elements => CODE|PREDEFINED
[reader] What to do when mixed schema elements are to be processed. Read more in the "DETAILS"
section below.
namespace_reset => BOOLEAN
[writer] Use the same prefixes in "prefixes" as with some other compiled piece, but reset the
counts to zero first.
output_namespaces => HASH|ARRAY-of-PAIRS
[Pre-0.87] name for the "prefixes" option. Deprecated.
path => STRING
Prepended to each error report, to indicate the location of the error in the XML-Scheme tree.
permit_href => BOOLEAN
[reader] When parsing SOAP-RPC encoded messages, the elements may have a "href" attribute pointing
to an object with "id". The READER will return the unparsed, unresolved node when the attribute is
detected, and the SOAP-RPC decoder will have to discover and resolve it.
prefixes => HASH|ARRAY-of-PAIRS
Can be used to pre-define prefixes for namespaces (for 'WRITER' or key rewrite) for instance to
reserve common abbreviations like "soap" for external use. Each entry in the hash has as key the
namespace uri. The value is a hash which contains "uri", "prefix", and "used" fields. Pass a
reference to a private hash to catch this index. An ARRAY with prefix, uri PAIRS is simpler.
prefixes => [ mine => $myns, two => $twons ]
prefixes => { $myns => 'mine', $twons => 'two' }
# the previous is short for:
prefixes => { $myns => [ uri => $myns, prefix => 'mine', used => 0 ]
, $twons => [ uri => $twons, prefix => 'two', ...] };
sloppy_floats => BOOLEAN
[reader] The float types of XML are all quite big, and support NaN, INF, and -INF. Perl's normal
floats do not, and therefore Math::BigFloat is used. This, however, is slow. When true, you will
crash on any value which is not understood by Perl's default float... but run much faster. See
also "sloppy_integers".
sloppy_integers => BOOLEAN
[reader] The XML "integer" data-types must support at least 18 digits, which is larger than Perl's
32 bit internal integers. Therefore, the implementation will use Math::BigInt objects to handle
them. However, often an simple "int" type whould have sufficed, but the XML designer was lazy. A
long is much faster to handle. Set this flag to use "int" as fast (but inprecise) replacements.
Be aware that "Math::BigInt" and "Math::BigFloat" objects are nearly but not fully transparently
mimicking the behavior of Perl's ints and floats. See their respective manual-pages. Especially
when you wish for some performance, you should optimize access to these objects to avoid expensive
copying which is exactly the spot where the differences are.
You can also improve the speed of Math::BigInt by installing Math::BigInt::GMP. Add "use
Math::BigInt try => 'GMP';" to the top of your main script to get more performance.
typemap => HASH
Add this typemap to the relations defined by new(typemap) or addTypemaps()
use_default_namespace => BOOLEAN
[0.91, writer] When mixing qualified and unqualified namespaces, then the use of a default
namespace can be quite confusing: a name-space without prefix. Therefore, by default, all
qualified elements will have an explicit prefix.
validation => BOOLEAN
XML message must be validated, to lower the chance on abuse. However, of course, it costs
performance which is only partially compensated by fewer checks in your code. This flag overrules
the "check_values", "check_occurs", and "ignore_facets".
xsi_type => HASH
See "Handling xsi:type". The HASH maps types as mentioned in the schema, to extensions of those
types which are addressed via the horrible "xsi:type" construct. When you specify "AUTO" as value
for some type, the translator tries collect possible xsi:type values from the loaded schemas. This
may be slow and may produce imperfect results.
xsi_type_everywhere => BOOLEAN
[1.48, writer] Add an "xsi:type" attribute to all elements, for instance as used in SOAP
RPC/encoded. The type added is the type according to the schema, unless the "xsi:type" is already
present on an element for some other reason.
Be aware that this option has a different purpose from "xsi_type". In this case, we do add exactly
the type specified in the xsd to each element which does not have an "xsi:type" attribute yet. The
"xsi_type" on the other hand, implements the (mis-)feature that the element's content may get
replaced by any extended type with this dynamic flag.
$obj->compileType( <'READER'|'WRITER'>, $type, %options )
This is a hack to be able to process components of SOAP messages, which are only specified by type.
Probably (hopefully) you do no need it. All %options are the same as for compile().
$obj->dataToXML($node|REF-XML|XML-STRING|$filename|$fh|$known)
XML::Compile::Schema->dataToXML( $node|REF-XML|XML-STRING|$filename|$fh|$known )
Inherited, see "Compilers" in XML::Compile
$obj->initParser(%options)
XML::Compile::Schema->initParser(%options)
Inherited, see "Compilers" in XML::Compile
$obj->template( <'XML'|'PERL'|'TREE'>, $element, %options )
Schema's can be horribly complex and unreadible. Therefore, this template method can be called to
create an example which demonstrates how data of the specified $element shown as XML or Perl is
organized in practice.
The 'TREE' template returns the intermediate parse tree, which gets formatted into the XML or Perl
example. This is not a very stable interface: it may change without much notice.
Some %options are explained in XML::Compile::Translate. There are some extra %options defined for
the final output process.
The templates produced are not always correct. Please contribute improvements: read and understand
the comments in the text.
-Option --Default
abstract_types 'ERROR'
attributes_qualified <undef>
elements_qualified <undef>
include_namespaces <true>
indent " "
key_rewrite []
output_style 1
show_comments ALL
skip_header <false>
abstract_types => 'ERROR'|'ACCEPT'
By default, do not show abstract types in the output.
attributes_qualified => BOOLEAN
elements_qualified => 'ALL'|'TOP'|'NONE'|BOOLEAN
include_namespaces => BOOLEAN|CODE
indent => STRING
The leading indentation string per nesting. Must start with at least one blank.
key_rewrite => HASH|CODE|ARRAY
output_style => 1|2
[1.61] Style 2 is a little different.
show_comments => STRING|'ALL'|'NONE'
A comma separated list of tokens, which explain what kind of comments need to be included in the
output. The available tokens are: "struct", "type", "occur", "facets". A value of "ALL" will
select all available comments. The "NONE" or empty string will exclude all comments.
skip_header => BOOLEAN
Skip the comment header from the output.
Administration
Extends "Administration" in XML::Compile.
$obj->doesExtend($exttype, $basetype)
Returns true when the $exttype extends the $basetype. See
XML::Compile::Schema::NameSpaces::doesExtend()
$obj->elements()
List all elements, defined by all schemas sorted alphabetically.
$obj->findSchemaFile($filename)
XML::Compile::Schema->findSchemaFile($filename)
Inherited, see "Administration" in XML::Compile
$obj->importDefinitions($xmldata, %options)
Import (include) the schema information included in the $xmldata. The $xmldata must be acceptable
for dataToXML(). The resulting node and all the %options are passed to addSchemas(). The schema node
does not need to be the top element: any schema node found in the data will be decoded.
Returned is a list of XML::Compile::Schema::Instance objects, for each processed schema component.
If your program imports the same string or file definitions multiple times, it will re-use the schema
information from the first import. This removal of duplications will not work for open files or pre-
parsed XML structures.
As an extension to the handling dataToXML() provides, you can specify an ARRAY of things which are
acceptable to "dataToXML". This way, you can specify multiple resources at once, each of which will
be processed with the same %options.
-Option --Default
details <from XMLDATA>
details => HASH
Overrule the details information about the source of the data.
example: of use of importDefinitions
my $schema = XML::Compile::Schema->new;
$schema->importDefinitions('my-spec.xsd');
my $other = "<schema>...</schema>"; # use 'HERE' documents!
my @specs = ('my-spec.xsd', 'types.xsd', $other);
$schema->importDefinitions(\@specs, @options);
$obj->knownNamespace($ns|PAIRS)
XML::Compile::Schema->knownNamespace($ns|PAIRS)
Inherited, see "Administration" in XML::Compile
$obj->namespaces()
Returns the XML::Compile::Schema::NameSpaces object which is used to collect schemas.
$obj->printIndex( [$fh], %options )
Print all the elements which are defined in the schemas to the $fh (by default the selected handle).
%options are passed to XML::Compile::Schema::NameSpaces::printIndex() and
XML::Compile::Schema::Instance::printIndex().
$obj->types()
List all types, defined by all schemas sorted alphabetically.
$obj->walkTree($node, CODE)
Inherited, see "Administration" in XML::Compile
DETAILS
Extends "DETAILS" in XML::Compile.
Distribution collection overview
Extends "Distribution collection overview" in XML::Compile.
Comparison
Extends "Comparison" in XML::Compile.
Collecting definitions
When starting an application, you will need to read the schema definitions. This is done by
instantiating an object via XML::Compile::Schema::new() or XML::Compile::WSDL11::new(). The WSDL11
object has a schema object internally.
Schemas may contains "import" and "include" statements, which specify other resources for definitions.
In the idea of the XML design team, those files should be retrieved automatically via an internet
connection from the "schemaLocation". However, this is a bad concept; in XML::Compile modules you will
have to explicitly provide filenames on local disk using importDefinitions() or
XML::Compile::WSDL11::addWSDL().
There are various reasons why I, the author of this module, think the dynamic automatic internet imports
are a bad idea. First: you do not always have a working internet connection (travelling with a laptop in
a train). Your implementation should work the same way under all environmental circumstances! Besides,
I do not trust remote files on my system, without inspecting them. Most important: I want to run my
regression tests before using a new version of the definitions, so I do not want to have a remote server
change the agreements without my knowledge.
So: before you start, you will need to scan (recursively) the initial schema or wsdl file for "import"
and "include" statements, and collect all these files from their "schemaLocation" into files on local
disk. In your program, call importDefinitions() on all of them -in any order- before you call compile().
Organizing your definitions
One nice feature to help you organize (especially useful when you package your code in a distribution),
is to add these lines to the beginning of your code:
package My::Package;
XML::Compile->addSchemaDirs(__FILE__);
XML::Compile->knownNamespace('http://myns' => 'myns.xsd', ...);
Now, if the package file is located at "SomeThing/My/Package.pm", the definion of the namespace should be
kept in "SomeThing/My/Package/xsd/myns.xsd".
Somewhere in your program, you have to load these definitions:
# absolute or relative path is always possible
$schema->importDefinitions('SomeThing/My/Package/xsd/myns.xsd');
# relative search path extended by addSchemaDirs
$schema->importDefinitions('myns.xsd');
# knownNamespace improves abstraction
$schema->importDefinitions('http://myns');
Very probably, the namespace is already in some variable:
use XML::Compile::Schema;
use XML::Compile::Util 'pack_type';
my $myns = 'http://some-very-long-uri';
my $schema = XML::Compile::Schema->new($myns);
my $mytype = pack_type $myns, $myelement;
my $reader = $schema->compileClient(READER => $mytype);
Addressing components
Normally, external users can only address elements within a schema, and types are hidden to be used by
other schemas only. For this reason, it is permitted to create an element and a type with the same name.
The compiler requires a starting-point. This can either be an element name or an element's id. The
format of the element name is "{namespace-uri}localname", for instance
{http://library}book
You may also start with
http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#float
as long as this ID refers to a top-level element, not a type.
When you use a schema without "targetNamespace" (which is bad practice, but sometimes people really do
not understand the beneficial aspects of the use of namespaces) then the elements can be addressed as
"{}name" or simple "name".
Representing data-structures
The code will do its best to produce a correct translation. For instance, an accidental 1.9999 will be
converted into 2 when the schema says that the field is an "int". It will also strip superfluous blanks
when the data-type permits. Especially watch-out for the "Integer" types, which produce Math::BigInt
objects unless compile(sloppy_integers) is used.
Elements can be complex, and themselve contain elements which are complex. In the Perl representation of
the data, this will be shown as nested hashes with the same structure as the XML.
You should not take tare of character encodings, whereas XML::LibXML is doing that for us: you shall not
escape characters like "<" yourself.
The schemas define kinds of data types. There are various ways to define them (with restrictions and
extensions), but for the resulting data structure is that knowledge not important.
simpleType
A single value. A lot of single value data-types are built-in (see XML::Compile::Schema::BuiltInTypes).
Simple types may have range limiting restrictions (facets), which will be checked by default. Types may
also have some white-space behavior, for instance blanks are stripped from integers: before, after, but
also inside the number representing string.
Note that some of the reader hooks will alter the single value of these elements into a HASH like used
for the complexType/simpleContent (next paragraph), to be able to return some extra collected
information.
. Example: typical simpleType
In XML, it looks like this:
<test1>42</test1>
In the HASH structure, the data will be represented as
test1 => 42
With reader hook "after => 'XML_NODE'" hook applied, it will become
test1 => { _ => 42
, _XML_NODE => $obj
}
complexType/simpleContent
In this case, the single value container may have attributes. The number of attributes can be endless,
and the value is only one. This value has no name, and therefore gets a predefined name "_".
When passed to the writer, you may specify a single value (not the whole HASH) when no attributes are
used.
. typical simpleContent example
In XML, this looks like this:
<test2 question="everything">42</test2>
As a HASH, this shows as
test2 => { _ => 42
, question => 'everything'
}
When specified in the writer, when no attributes are need, you can use either form:
test3 => { _ => 7 }
test3 => 7
complexType and complexType/complexContent
These containers not only have attributes, but also multiple values as content. The "complexContent" is
used to create inheritance structures in the data-type definition. This does not affect the XML data
package itself.
. Example: typical complexType element
The XML could look like:
<test3 question="everything" by="mouse">
<answer>42</answer>
<when>5 billion BC</when>
</test3>
Represented as HASH, this looks like
test3 => { question => 'everything'
, by => 'mouse'
, answer => 42
, when => '5 billion BC'
}
Manually produced XML NODE
For a WRITER, you may also specify a XML::LibXML::Node anywhere.
test1 => $doc->createTextNode('42');
test3 => $doc->createElement('ariba');
This data-structure is used without validation, so you are fully on your own with this one. Typically,
nodes are produced by hooks to implement work-arounds.
Occurence
A second factor which determines the data-structure is the element occurrence. Usually, elements have to
appear once and exactly once on a certain location in the XML data structure. This order is
automatically produced by this module. But elements may appear multiple times.
usual case
The default behavior for an element (in a sequence container) is to appear exactly once. When
missing, this is an error.
maxOccurs larger than 1
In this case, the element or particle block can appear multiple times. Multiple values are kept in
an ARRAY within the HASH. Non-schema based XML modules do not return a single value as an ARRAY,
which makes that code more complicated. But in our case, we know the expected amount beforehand.
When the maxOccurs larger than 1 is specified for an element, an ARRAY of those elements is produced.
When it is specified for a block (sequence, choice, all, group), then an ARRAY of HASHes is returned.
See the special section about this subject.
An error is produced when the number of elements found is less than "minOccurs" (defaults to 1) or
more than "maxOccurs" (defaults to 1), unless compile(check_occurs) is "false".
Example elements with maxOccurs larger than 1. In the schema:
<element name="a" type="int" maxOccurs="unbounded" />
<element name="b" type="int" />
In the XML message:
<a>12</a><a>13</a><b>14</b>
In the Perl representation:
a => [12, 13], b => 14
value is "NIL"
When an element is nillable, that is explicitly represented as a "NIL" constant string.
use="optional" or minOccurs="0"
The element may be skipped. When found it is a single value.
use="forbidden"
When the element is found, an error is produced.
default="value"
When the XML does not contain the element, the default value is used... but only if this element's
container exists. This has no effect on the writer.
fixed="value"
Produce an error when the value is not present or different (after the white-space rules where
applied).
Default Values
[added in v0.91] With compile(default_values) you can control how much information about default values
defined by the schema will be passed into your program.
The choices, available for both READER and WRITER, are:
"IGNORE" (the WRITER's standard behavior)
Only include element and attribute values in the result if they are in the XML message.
Behaviorally, this treats elements with default values as if they are just optional. The WRITER does
not try to be smarter than you.
"EXTEND" (the READER's standard behavior)
If some element or attribute is not in the source but has a default in the schema, that value will be
produced. This is very convenient for the READER, because your application does not have to hard-
code the same constant values as defaults as well.
"MINIMAL"
Only produce the values which differ from the defaults. This choice is useful when producing XML, to
reduce the size of the output.
. Example: use of default_values EXTEND
Let us process a schema using the schema schema. A schema file can contain lines like this:
<element minOccurs="0" ref="myelem"/>
In mode "EXTEND" (the READER default), this gets translated into:
element => { ref => 'myelem', maxOccurs => 1
, minOccurs => 0, nillable => 0 };
With "EXTEND" in the READER, all schema information is used to provide a complete overview of available
information. Your code does not need to check whether the attributes were available or not: attributes
with defaults or fixed values are automatically added.
Again mode "EXTEND", now for the writer:
element => { ref => 'myelem', minOccurs => 0 };
<element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" ref="myelem" nillable="0"/>
. Example: use of default_values IGNORE
With option "default_values" set to "IGNORE" (the WRITER default), you would get
element => { ref => 'myelem', maxOccurs => 1, minOccurs => 0 }
<element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" ref="myelem"/>
The same in both translation directions. The nillable attribute is not used, so will not be shown by the
READER. The writer does not try to be smart, so does not add the nillable default.
. Example: use of default_values MINIMAL
With option "default_values" set to "MINIMAL", the READER would do this:
<element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" ref="myelem"/>
element => { ref => 'myelem', minOccurs => 0 }
The maxOccurs default is "1", so will not be included, minimalizing the size of the HASH.
For the WRITER:
element => { ref => 'myelem', minOccurs => 0, nillable => 0 }
<element minOccurs="0" ref="myelem"/>
because the default value for nillable is '0', it will not show as attribute value.
Repetative blocks
Particle blocks come in four shapes: "sequence", "choice", "all", and "group" (an indirect block). This
also affects "substitutionGroups".
repetative sequence, choice, all
In situations like this:
<element name="example">
<complexType>
<sequence>
<element name="a" type="int" />
<sequence>
<element name="b" type="int" />
</sequence>
<element name="c" type="int" />
</sequence>
</complexType>
</element>
(yes, schemas are verbose) the data structure is
<example> <a>1</a> <b>2</b> <c>3</c> </example>
the Perl representation is flattened, into
example => { a => 1, b => 2, c => 3 }
Ok, this is very simple. However, schemas can use repetition:
<element name="example">
<complexType>
<sequence>
<element name="a" type="int" />
<sequence minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
<element name="b" type="int" />
</sequence>
<element name="c" type="int" />
</sequence>
</complexType>
</element>
The XML message may be:
<example> <a>1</a> <b>2</b> <b>3</b> <b>4</b> <c>5</c> </example>
Now, the perl representation needs to produce an array of the data in the repeated block. This array
needs to have a name, because more of these blocks may appear together in a construct. The name of the
block is derived from the type of block and the name of the first element in the block, regardless
whether that element is present in the data or not.
So, our example data is translated into (and vice versa)
example =>
{ a => 1
, seq_b => [ {b => 2}, {b => 3}, {b => 4} ]
, c => 5
}
The following label is used, based on the name of the first element (say "xyz") as defined in the schema
(not in the actual message):
seq_xyz sequence with maxOccurs > 1
cho_xyz choice with maxOccurs > 1
all_xyz all with maxOccurs > 1
When you have compile(key_rewrite) option PREFIXED, and you have explicitly assigned the prefix "xs" to
the schema namespace (See compile(prefixes)), then those names will respectively be "seq_xs_xyz",
"cho_xs_xyz", "all_xs_xyz".
. Example: always an array with maxOccurs larger than 1
Even when there is only one element found, it will be returned as ARRAY (of one element). Therefore, you
can write
my $data = $reader->($xml);
foreach my $a ( @{$data->{a}} ) {...}
. Example: blocks with maxOccurs larger than 1
In the schema:
<sequence maxOccurs="5">
<element name="a" type="int" />
<element name="b" type="int" />
</sequence>
In the XML message:
<a>15</a><b>16</b><a>17</a><b>18</b>
In Perl representation:
seq_a => [ {a => 15, b => 16}, {a => 17, b => 18} ]
repetative groups
[behavioral change in 0.93] In contrast to the normal particle blocks, as described above, do the groups
have names. In this case, we do not need to take the name of the first element, but can use the group
name. It will still have "gr_" appended, because groups can have the same name as an element or a
type(!)
Blocks within the group definition cannot be repeated.
. Example: groups with maxOccurs larger than 1
<element name="top">
<complexType>
<sequence>
<group ref="ns:xyz" maxOccurs="unbounded">
</sequence>
</complexType>
</element>
<group name="xyz">
<sequence>
<element name="a" type="int" />
<element name="b" type="int" />
</sequence>
</group>
translates into
gr_xyz => [ {a => 42, b => 43}, {a => 44, b => 45} ]
repetative substitutionGroups
For substitutionGroups which are repeating, the name of the base element is used (the element which has
attribute "<abstract="true"">. We do need this array, because the order of the elements within the group
may be important; we cannot group the elements based to the extended element's name.
In an example substitutionGroup, the Perl representation will be something like this:
base-element-name =>
[ { extension-name => $data1 }
, { other-extension => $data2 }
]
Each HASH has only one key.
. Example: with a list of ints
<test5>3 8 12</test5>
as Perl structure:
test5 => [3, 8, 12]
. Example: substitutionGroup
<xs:element name="price" type="xs:int" abstract="true" />
<xs:element name="euro" type="xs:int" substitutionGroup="price" />
<xs:element name="dollar" type="xs:int" substitutionGroup="price" />
<xs:element name="product">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:element name="name" type="xs:string" />
<xs:element ref="price" />
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
Now, valid XML data is
<product>
<name>Ball</name>
<euro>12</euro>
</product>
and
<product>
<name>Ball</name>
<dollar>6</dollar>
</product>
The HASH repesentation is respectively
product => {name => 'Ball', euro => 12}
product => {name => 'Ball', dollar => 6}
. Example: of HOOKs:
my $hook = { type => '{my_ns}my_type'
, before => sub { ... }
, action => 'WRITER'
};
my $hook = { path => qr/\(volume\)/
, replace => 'SKIP'
, action => 'READER'
};
# path contains "volume" or id is 'aap' or id is 'noot'
my $hook = { path => qr/\bvolume\b/
, id => [ 'aap', 'noot' ]
, before => [ sub {...}, sub { ... } ]
, after => sub { ... }
};
. Example: use of the type selector
type => 'int'
type => '{http://www.w3.org/2000/10/XMLSchema}int'
type => qr/\}xml_/ # type start with xml_
type => [ qw/int float/ ];
use XML::Compile::Util qw/pack_type SCHEMA2000/;
type => pack_type(SCHEMA2000, 'int')
# with XML::Compile::Cache
$schema->addPrefixes(xsd => SCHEMA2000);
type => 'xsd:int'
. Example: type hook with XML::Compile::Cache
use XML::Compile::Util qw/SCHEMA2001/;
my $schemas = XML::Compile::Cache->new(...);
$schemas->addPrefixes(xsd => SCHEMA2001, mine => 'http://somens');
$schemas->addHook(type => 'xsd:int', ...);
$schemas->addHook(type => 'mine:sometype', ...);
. Example: use of the ID selector
# default schema types have id's with same name
id => 'ABC'
id => 'http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#int'
id => qr/\#xml_/ # id which start with xml_
id => [ qw/ABC fgh/ ];
use XML::Compile::Util qw/pack_id SCHEMA2001/;
id => pack_id(SCHEMA2001, 'ABC')
. Example: anyAttribute in a READER
Say your schema looks like this:
<schema targetNamespace="http://mine"
xmlns:me="http://mine" ...>
<element name="el">
<complexType>
<attribute name="a" type="xs:int" />
<anyAttribute namespace="##targetNamespace"
processContents="lax">
</complexType>
</element>
<simpleType name="non-empty">
<restriction base="NCName" />
</simpleType>
</schema>
Then, in an application, you write:
my $r = $schema->compile
( READER => pack_type('http://mine', 'el')
, anyAttribute => 'ALL'
);
# or lazy: READER => '{http://mine}el'
my $h = $r->( <<'__XML' );
<el xmlns:me="http://mine">
<a>42</a>
<b type="me:non-empty">
everything
</b>
</el>
__XML
use Data::Dumper 'Dumper';
print Dumper $h;
__XML__
The output is something like
$VAR1 =
{ a => 42
, '{http://mine}a' => ... # XML::LibXML::Node with <a>42</a>
, '{http://mine}b' => ... # XML::LibXML::Node with <b>everything</b>
};
You can improve the reader with a callback. When you know that the extra attribute is always of type
"non-empty", then you can do
my $read = $schema->compile
( READER => '{http://mine}el'
, anyAttribute => \&filter
);
my $anyAttRead = $schema->compile
( READER => '{http://mine}non-empty'
);
sub filter($$$$)
{ my ($fqn, $xml, $path, $translator) = @_;
return () if $fqn ne '{http://mine}b';
(b => $anyAttRead->($xml));
}
my $h = $r->( see above );
print Dumper $h;
Which will result in
$VAR1 =
{ a => 42
, b => 'everything'
};
The filter will be called twice, but return nothing in the first case. You can implement any kind of
complex processing in the filter.
. Example: to trace the paths
$schema->addHook
( action => 'READER'
, path => qr/./
, before => 'PRINT_PATH'
);
. Example: specify anyAttribute
use XML::Compile::Util qw/pack_type/;
my $attr = $doc->createAttributeNS($somens, $sometype, 42);
my $h = { a => 12 # normal element or attribute
, "{$somens}$sometype" => $attr # anyAttribute
, pack_type($somens, $mytype) => $attr # nicer
, "$prefix:$sometype" => $attr # [1.28]
};
. Example: before hook on user-provided HASH.
sub beforeOnComplex($$$$)
{ my ($doc, $values, $path, $fulltype) = @_;
my %copy = %$values;
$copy{extra} = 42;
delete $copy{superfluous};
$copy{count} =~ s/\D//g; # only digits
\%copy;
}
. Example: before hook on simpleType data
sub beforeOnSimple($$$$)
{ my ($doc, $value, $path, $fulltype) = @_;
$value * 100; # convert euro to euro-cents
}
. Example: before hook with object for complexType
sub beforeOnObject($$$$)
{ my ($doc, $obj, $path, $fulltype) = @_;
+{ name => $obj->name
, price => $obj->euro
, currency => 'EUR'
};
}
. Example: replace hook
sub replace($$$$$)
{ my ($doc, $values, $path, $tag, $r, $fulltype) = @_
my $node = $doc->createElement($tag);
$node->appendText($values->{text});
$node;
}
. Example: add an extra sibbling after the usual process
sub after($$$$)
{ my ($doc, $node, $path, $values, $fulltype) = @_;
my $child = $doc->createAttributeNS($myns, earth => 42);
$node->addChild($child);
$node;
}
. Example: creating nodes with text
{ my $text;
sub before($$$)
{ my ($doc, $values, $path) = @_;
my %copy = %$values;
$text = delete $copy{text};
\%copy;
}
sub after($$$)
{ my ($doc, $node, $path) = @_;
$node->addChild($doc->createTextNode($text));
$node;
}
$schema->addHook
( action => 'WRITER'
, type => 'mixed'
, before => \&before
, after => \&after
);
}
List type
List simpleType objects are also represented as ARRAY, like elements with a minOccurs or maxOccurs
unequal 1.
Using substitutionGroup constructs
A substitution group is kind-of choice between alternative (complex) types. However, in this case roles
have reversed: instead a "choice" which lists the alternatives, here the alternative elements register
themselves as valid for an abstract (head) element. All alternatives should be extensions of the head
element's type, but there is no way to check that.
Wildcards via any and anyAttribute
The "any" and "anyAttribute" elements are referred to as "wildcards": they specify (huge, generic) groups
of elements and attributes which are accepted, instead of being explicit.
The author of this module advices against the use of wildcards in schemas: the purpose of schemas is to
be explicit about the message in the interface, and that basic idea is simply thrown away by these
wildcards. Let people cleanly extend the schema with inheritance! There is always a substitutionGroup
alternative possible.
Because wildcards are not explicit about the types to expect, the "XML::Compile" module can not prepare
for them at run-time. You need to go read the documentation and do some tricky manual work to get it to
work.
Read about the processing of wildcards in the manual page for each of the back-ends
(XML::Compile::Translate::Reader, XML::Compile::Translate::Writer, ...).
ComplexType with "mixed" attribute
[largely improved in 0.86, reader only] ComplexType and ComplexContent components can be declared with
the "<mixed="true""> attribute. This implies that text is not limited to the content of containers, but
may also be used inbetween elements. Usually, you will only find ignorable white-space between elements.
In this example, the "a" container is marked to be mixed:
<a> before <b>2</b> after </a>
Each back-end has its own way of handling mixed elements. The compile(mixed_elements) currently only
modifies the reader's behavior; the writer's capabilities are limited. See
XML::Compile::Translate::Reader.
hexBinary and base64Binary
These are used to include images and such in an XML message. Usually, they are quite large with respect
to the other elements. When you use SOAP, you may wish to use XML::Compile::XOP instead.
The element values which you need to pass for fields of these types is a binary BLOB, something Perl does
not have. So, it is a string containing binary data but not specially marked that way.
If you need to store an integer in such a binary field, you first have to promote it into a BLOB (string)
like this
{ color => pack('N', $i) } # writer
my $i = unpack('N', $d->{color}); # reader
Module Geo::KML implemented a nice hook to avoid the explicit need for this "pack" and "unpack". The KML
schema designers liked colors to be written as "ffc0c0c0" and abused "hexBinary" for that purpose. The
"colorType" fields in KML are treated as binary, but just represent an int. Have a look in that Geo::KML
code if your schema has some of those tricks. Only available in Backpan, withdrawn from CPAN.
Schema hooks
You can use hooks, for instance, to block processing parts of the message, to create work-arounds for
schema bugs, or to extract more information during the process than done by default.
Defining hooks
Multiple hooks can active during the compilation process of a type, when "compile()" is called. During
Schema translation, each of the hooks is checked for all types which are processed. When multiple hooks
select the object to get a modified behavior, then all are evaluated in order of definition.
Defining a global hook (where HOOKDATA is the LIST of PAIRS with hook parameters, and HOOK a HASH with
such HOOKDATA):
my $schema = XML::Compile::Schema->new
( ...
, hook => HOOK
, hooks => [ HOOK, HOOK ]
);
$schema->addHook(HOOKDATA | HOOK);
$schema->addHooks(HOOK, HOOK, ...);
my $wsdl = XML::Compile::WSDL->new(...);
$wsdl->addHook(HOOKDATA | HOOK);
local hooks are only used for one reader or writer. They are evaluated before the global hooks.
my $reader = $schema->compile(READER => $type
, hook => HOOK, hooks => [ HOOK, HOOK, ...]);
General syntax
Each hook has three kinds of parameters:
. selectors
. processors
. action ('READER' or 'WRITER', defaults to both)
Selectors define the schema component of which the processing is modified. When one of the selectors
matches, the processing information for the hook is used. When no selector is specified, then the hook
will be used on all elements.
Available selectors (see below for details on each of them):
. type
. extends
. id
. path
As argument, you can specify one element as STRING, a regular expression to select multiple elements, or
an ARRAY of STRINGs and REGEXes.
Next to where the hook is placed, we need to known what to do in the case: the hook contains processing
information. When more than one hook matches, then all of these processors are called in order of hook
definition. However, first the compile hooks are taken, and then the global hooks.
How the processing works exactly depends on the compiler back-end. There are major differences. Each of
those manual-pages lists the specifics. The label tells us when the processing is initiated. Available
labels are "before", "replace", and "after".
Hooks on matching types
The "type" selector specifies a complexType of simpleType by name. Best is to base the selection on the
full name, like "{ns}type", which will avoid all kinds of name-space conflicts in the future. However,
you may also specify only the "local type" (in any name-space). Any REGEX will be matched to the full
type name. Be careful with the pattern archors.
If you use XML::Compile::Cache [release 0.90], then you can use "prefix:type" as type specification as
well. You have to explicitly define prefix to namespace beforehand.
Hooks on extended type
[1.48] This hook will match all elements which use a type which is equal or based on the given type. In
the schema, you will find extension and restriction constructs. You may only pass a single full type (no
arrays of types or local names) per 'extend' hook.
Using a hooks on extended types is quite expensive for the compiler.
example:
$schemas->addHook(extends => "{ns}local", ...);
$schemas->addHook(extends => 'mine:sometype', ...); # need ::Cache
Hooks on matching ids
Matching based on IDs can reach more schema elements: some types are anonymous but still have an ID.
Best is to base selection on the full ID name, like "ns#id", to avoid all kinds of name-space conflicts
in the future.
Hooks on matching paths
When you see error messages, you always see some representation of the path where the problem was
discovered. You can use this path as selector, when you know what it is... BE WARNED, that the current
structure of the path is not really consequent hence will be improved in one of the future releases,
breaking backwards compatibility.
Typemaps
Often, XML will be used in object oriented programs, where the facts which are transported in the XML
message are attributes of Perl objects. Of course, you can always collect the data from each of the
Objects into the required (huge) HASH manually, before triggering the reader or writer. As alternative,
you can connect types in the XML schema with Perl objects and classes, which results in cleaner code.
You can also specify typemaps with new(typemap), addTypemaps(), and compile(typemap). Each type will only
refer to the last map for that type. When an "undef" is given for a type, then the older definition will
be cancelled. Examples of the three ways to specify typemaps:
my %map = ($x1 => $p1, $x2 => $p2);
my $schema = XML::Compile::Schema->new(...., typemap => \%map);
$schema->addTypemaps($x3 => $p3, $x4 => $p4, $x1 => undef);
my $call = $schema->compile(READER => $type, typemap => \%map);
The latter only has effect for the type being compiled. The definitions are cumulative. In the second
example, the $x1 gets disabled.
Objects can come in two shapes: either they do support the connection with XML::Compile (implementing two
methods with predefined names), or they don't, in which case you will need to write a little wrapper.
use XML::Compile::Util qw/pack_type/;
my $t1 = pack_type $myns, $mylocal;
$schema->typemap($t1 => 'My::Perl::Class');
$schema->typemap($t1 => $some_object);
$schema->typemap($t1 => sub { ... });
The implementation of the READER and WRITER differs. In the READER case, the typemap is implemented as
an 'after' hook which calls a "fromXML" method. The WRITER is a 'before' hook which calls a "toXML"
method. See respectively the XML::Compile::Translate::Reader and XML::Compile::Translate::Writer.
Private variables in objects
When you design a new object, it is possible to store the information exactly like the corresponding XML
type definition. The only thing the "fromXML" has to do, is bless the data-structure into its class:
$schema->typemap($xmltype => 'My::Perl::Class');
package My::Perl::Class;
sub fromXML { bless $_[1], $_[0] } # for READER
sub toXML { $_[0] } # for WRITER
However... the object may also need so need some private variables. If you store them in the same HASH
for your object, you will get "unused tags" warnings from the writer. To avoid that, choose one of the
following alternatives:
# never complain about unused tags
::Schema->new(..., ignore_unused_tags => 1);
# only complain about unused tags not matching regexp
my $not_for_xml = qr/^[A-Z]/; # my XML only has lower-case
::Schema->new(..., ignore_unused_tags => $not_for_xml);
# only for one compiled WRITER (not used with READER)
::Schema->compile(..., ignore_unused_tags => 1);
::Schema->compile(..., ignore_unused_tags => $not_for_xml);
Typemap limitations
There are some things you need to know:
. Many schemas define very complex types. These may often not translate cleanly into objects. You may
need to create a typemap relation for some parent type. The CODE reference may be very useful in
this case.
. A same kind of problem appears when you have a list in your object, which often is not named in the
schema.
Handling xsi:type
[1.10] The "xsi:type" is an old-fashioned mechanism, and should be avoided! In this case, the schema
does tell you that a certain element has a certrain type, but at run-time(!) that is changed. When an XML
element has a "xsi:type" attribute, it tells you simply to have an extension of the original type. This
whole mechanism does bite the "compilation" idea of XML::Compile... however with some help, it will work.
To make "xsi:type" work at run-time, you have to pass a table of which types you expect at compile-time.
Example:
my %xsi_type_table =
( $base_type1 => [ $ext1_of_type1, $ext2_of_type2 ]
, $base_type2 => [ $ext1_of_type2 ]
);
my $r = $schema->compile(READER => $type
, xsi_type => \%xsi_type_table
);
When your schema is an XML::Compile::Cache (version at least 0.93), your types look like "prefix:local".
With a plain XML::Compile::Schema, they will look like "{namespace}local", typically produced with
XML::Compile::Util::pack_type().
When used in a reader, the resulting data-set will contain a "XSI_TYPE" key inbetween the facts which
were taken from the element. The type is is long syntax "{$ns}$type". See
XML::Compile::Util::unpack_type()
With the writer, you have to provide such an "XSI_TYPE" value or the element's base type will be used
(and no "xsi:type" attribute created). This will probably cause warnings about unused tags. The type
can be provided in full (see XML::Compile::Util::pack_type()) or [1.31] prefixed.
[1.25] then the value is not an ARRAY, but only the keyword "AUTO", the parser will try to auto-detect
all types which are valid alternatives. This currently only works for non-builtin types. The auto-
detection might be slow and (because many schemas are broken) not produce a complete list. When
debugging is enabled ("use Log::Report mode => 3;") you will see to which list this AUTO gets expanded.
xsi_type => { $base_type => 'AUTO' } # requires X::C v1.25
XML::Compile::Cache (since v1.01) makes using "xsi:type" easier. When you have a ::Cache based object
(for instance a XML::Compile::WSDL11) you can simply say
$wsdl->addXsiType( $base_type => 'AUTO' )
Now, you do not need to pass the xsi table to each compilation call.
Key rewrite
[improved with release 1.10] The standard practice is to use the localName of the XML elements as key in
the Perl HASH; the key rewrite mechanism is used to change that, sometimes to separate elements which
have the same localName within different name-spaces, or when an element and an attribute share a name
(key rewrite is applied to elements AND attributes) in other cases just for fun or convenience.
Rewrite rules are interpreted at "compile-time", which means that they do not slow-down the XML
construction or deconstruction. The rules work the same for readers and writers, because they are
applied to name found in the schema.
Key rewrite rules can be set during schema object initiation with new(key_rewrite) and to an existing
schema object with addKeyRewrite(). These rules will be used in all calls to compile().
Next, you can use compile(key_rewrite) to add rules which are only used for a single compilation. These
are applied before the global rules. All rules will always be attempted, and the rulle will me applied
to the result of the previous change.
The last defined rewrite rules will be applied first, with one major exception: the "PREFIXED" rules will
be executed before any other rule.
key_rewrite via table
When a HASH is provided as rule, then the XML element name is looked-up. If found, the value is used as
translated key.
First full name of the element is tried, and then the localName of the element. The full name can be
created with XML::Compile::Util::pack_type() or by hand:
use XML::Compile::Util qw/pack_type/;
my %table =
( pack_type($myns, 'el1') => 'nice_name1'
, "{$myns}el2" => 'alsoNice'
, el3 => 'in any namespace'
);
$schema->addKeyRewrite( \%table );
Rewrite via function
When a CODE reference is provided, it will get called for each key which is found in the schema. Passed
are the name-space of the element and its local-name. Returned is the key, which may be the local-name
or something else.
For instance, some people use capitals in element names and personally I do not like them:
sub dont_like_capitals($$)
{ my ($ns, $local) = @_;
lc $local;
}
$schema->addKeyRewrite( \&dont_like_capitals );
for short:
my $schema = XML::Compile::Schema->new( ...,
key_rewrite => sub { lc $_[1] } );
key_rewrite when localNames collide
Let's start with an apology: we cannot auto-detect when these rewrite rules are needed, because the
colliding keys are within the same HASH, but the processing is fragmented over various (sequence) blocks:
the parser does not have the overview on which keys of the HASH are used for which elements.
The problem occurs when one complex type or substitutionGroup contains multiple elements with the same
localName, but from different name-spaces. In the perl representation of the data, the name-spaces get
ignored (to make the programmer's life simple) but that may cause these nasty conflicts.
Rewrite for convenience
In XML, we often see names like "my-elem-name", which in Perl would be accessed as
$h->{'my-elem-name'}
In this case, you cannot leave-out the quotes in your perl code, which is quite inconvenient, because
only 'barewords' can be used as keys unquoted. When you use option "key_rewrite" for compile() or new(),
you could decide to map dashes onto underscores.
key_rewrite
=> sub { my ($ns, $local) = @_; $local =~ s/\-/_/g; $local }
key_rewrite => sub { $_[1] =~ s/\-/_/g; $_[1] }
then "my-elem-name" in XML will get mapped onto "my_elem_name" in Perl, both in the READER as the WRITER.
Be warned that the substitute command returns the success, not the modified value!
Pre-defined key_rewrite rules
UNDERSCORES
Replace dashes (-) with underscores (_).
SIMPLIFIED
Rewrite rule with the constant name (STRING) "SIMPLIFIED" will replace all dashes with underscores,
translate capitals into lowercase, and remove all other characters which are none-bareword (if
possible, I am too lazy to check)
PREFIXED
This requires a table for prefix to name-space translations, via compile(prefixes), which defines at
least one non-empty (default) prefix. The keys which represent elements in any name-space which has
a prefix defined will have that prefix and an underscore prepended.
Be warned that the name-spaces which you provide are used, not the once used in the schema. Example:
my $r = $schema->compile
( READER => $type
, prefixes => [ mine => $myns ]
, key_rewrite => 'PREFIXED'
);
my $xml = $r->( <<__XML );
<data xmlns="$myns"><x>42</x></data>
__XML
print join ' => ', %$xml; # mine_x => 42
PREFIXED(...)
Like the previous, but now only use a selected sub-set of the available prefixes. This is particular
useful in writers, when explicit prefixes are also used to beautify the output.
The prefixes are not checked against the prefix list, and may have surrounding blanks.
key_rewrite => 'PREFIXED(opt,sar)'
Above is equivalent to:
key_rewrite => [ 'PREFIXED(opt)', 'PREFIXED(sar)' ]
Special care is taken that the prefix will not be added twice. For instance, if the same prefix
appears twice, or a "PREFIXED" rule is provided as well, then still only one prefix is added.
SEE ALSO
This module is part of XML-Compile distribution version 1.63, built on July 02, 2019. Website:
http://perl.overmeer.net/xml-compile/
LICENSE
Copyrights 2006-2019 by [Mark Overmeer <markov@cpan.org>]. For other contributors see ChangeLog.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl
itself. See http://dev.perl.org/licenses/
perl v5.36.0 2022-11-27 XML::Compile::Schema(3pm)