Note: Each of these elements may contain attributes as well!

Examples of Complex Elements

A complex empty XML element, “employee”

<employee eid=”1234"/>

A complex XML element, “employee”, which contains only other elements:

<employee>
<firstname>Amit</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
</employee>

A complex XML element, “employee”, which contains only text:

<employee type=”category”>Programmer</ employee>

A complex XML element, “event”, which contains both elements and text:

<event>
It occured on <date lang=”norwegian”>15.05.07</date> ....
</event>

Defining a Complex Element:
Look at this complex XML element,“employee”, which contains only other elements:

<employee>
<firstname>Amit</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
</employee>

We can define a complex element in an XML Schema in two different ways:

1. “employee” element can be declared directly by naming the element, like this:

<xs:element name=”employee”>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>

<xs:element name=”firstname”
type=”xs:string”/>
<xs:element name=”lastname”
type=”xs:string”/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

In the above described method only “employee” element can use the specified complex type. Note that the child elements, “firstname” and“lastname”, are surrounded by the <sequence> indicator. This means that the child elements must appear in the same order as they are
declared.

2. “employee” element can have a type attribute refering to the name of the complex type to use:

<xs:element name=”employee” type=”personinfo”/>
<xs:complexType name=”personinfo”>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name=”firstname”
type=”xs:string”/>
<xs:element name=”lastname”
type=”xs:string”/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>

Using the method described above, several elements can refer to the same complex type, like this:

<xs:element name=”employee” type=”personinfo”/>
<xs:element name=”employer” type=”personinfo”/>
<xs:element name=”teammember” type=”personinfo”/>
<xs:complexType name=”personinfo”>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name=”firstname” type=”xs:string”/>
<xs:element name=”lastname” type=”xs:string”/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>