Re: import vs prefixing

Michael Anderson <michael@research.canon.com.au> writes:

> I'm curious to know the difference between the two following schemas
> <schema xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/XMLSchema"
>               xmlns:cisra = "http://cisra.au">
>   <import namespace="http://cisra.au"
>                schemaLocation="http://www.cisra.com.au/mySchema.xsd"/>
>     <element name="food" type="cisra:Weetbix"/>
> </schema>
> 
> AND
> 
> <schema xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/XMLSchema"
>               xmlns:cisra = "http://cisra.au">
>               xsi:schemaLocation="http://cisra.au
> 
> http://www.cisra.com.au/mySchema.xsd"/>
>     <element name="food" type="cisra:Weetbix"/>
> </schema>

[Note your NS URI for XML Schema is in error, should be
        http://www.w3.org/2000/10/XMLSchema]

> Is it that you _must_ import the namespace using <import> before you can
> use components from it in your schema?

Yes.  And the imported schema must have "http://cisra.au" as its
targetNamespace.

> Also, while on the subject of import....
> There is also a statement in the specs [Structures 6.2.3] - "When a
> schemaLocation is present, it must contain a single URI reference which
> the schema author warrants will resolve to a schema document containing
> the component(s) in the imported namespace referred to elsewhere in the
> containing schema document."  This sounds to me like a constraint
> (although it doesn't appear in the src) that components referred to
> elsewhere in the containing document _must_ come from this schema
> document.  I'm pretty sure this is not the case as schemaLocation is,
> elsewhere, _always_ used as a _hint_only_.  In which case, is this
> statement saying that the schema document, if resolved, _must_ have at
> least one component that is in a schema information item that has a
> targetNamespace that matches the import statement?

No, and I'll try to change the prose to be less misleading in this
regard.

ht
-- 
  Henry S. Thompson, HCRC Language Technology Group, University of Edinburgh
          W3C Fellow 1999--2001, part-time member of W3C Team
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	    Fax: (44) 131 650-4587, e-mail: ht@cogsci.ed.ac.uk
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Received on Wednesday, 17 January 2001 10:08:06 UTC