Re: [ciq] NZ help required re XCIL (message picked from xml.org)

[Hido Hasimbegovic <hido.hasimbegovic@customware.net>]

Hi Colin

Is this from NZ eGov or someone else?
Anyway, here's my 2 cents' worth:

This is a typical XML Schema implementation dilemma.

The way I would tackle this is as follows:
- Find out how important is xCIL compatibility to you, as a part of
overall interoperability. For example, are other systems expecting you
to handle/issue xCIL valid documents? If so, don't redesign the schema!
- Separate your validation into layers. Leave xCIL schema validation as
is, but also implement business rules validation. This is probably best
done programmaticaly. You can use some XSLT to quickly find out whether
required XML data is in the document. For example, this is how you would
find out whether your CustomerDetails element has PersonInfo or not. I
wouldn't hard-code this rule in the schema itself. Business rules tend
to evolve, and by not extending business rules to the schema itself
you're shielding it from any changes in business rules.
- XML Schema validation is a reasonably expensive exercise in terms of
CPU cycles and memory. First you have to parse the schema, then the XML
document, then validate. Therefore I don't think that double validation
(your point (a)) is a good idea.
- From my experience we've always used XML schema validation up to the
point when we're satisfied that the document we're getting are valid
always. This usually meant that the schema validation would be turned on
during development and testing process, and then turned off in
production. This also makes the whole system consume less resources. If
however, you're dealing with unknown third parties and there's no
guarantees that XML documents are going to be valid always, I'd leave
XML schema validation on at all times.

I hope this helps!

Regards,



-- 
Hido Hasimbegovic
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