simpleType

Defines a simple type, which determines the constraints on and information about the values of attributes or elements with text-only content.

<simpleType
  final = (#all | (list | union | restriction)) 
  id = ID 
  name = NCName 
  {any attributes with non-schema Namespace}…>
Content: (annotation?, (restriction | list | union))
</simpleType>

Attributes

final

The type of derivation. The final attribute prevents the specified type of derivation of this <simpleType> element. This value can contain #all or a list that is a subset of list, union, or restriction.

`list`	Prevents derivation by list.
`union`	Prevents derivation by union.
`restriction`	Prevents derivation by restriction.
`#all`	Prevents all derivation (list, union, restriction).

Optional.

id

The ID of this element. The id value must be of type ID and be unique within the document containing this element.

Optional.

name

The name of the type. The name must be a no-colon-name (NCName) as defined in the XML Namespaces specification.

If specified, the name must be unique among all <simpleType> and <complexType> elements.

Required if the <simpleType> element is a child of the <schema> element, and not allowed at other times.

Element Information

Number of occurrences	Unlimited
Parent elements	attribute, element, list, restriction (simpleType), schema, union
Contents	annotation, list, restriction (simpleType), union

Remarks

Simple types are defined by deriving them from existing simple types (built-in data types and derived simple types). A simple type cannot contain elements and cannot have attributes.

Simple types can be defined in one of the following ways.

restriction	Restricts the range of values for the simple type to a subset of those for inherited simple type.
list	Defines a simple type that contains a white space-separated list of values of an inherited simple type.
union	Defines a simple type that contains a union of the values of two or more inherited simple types.

A <simpleType> declaration contained within a complexType or attribute element defines that simple type within the scope of the <complexType> or <attribute> that contains it. If a <simpleType> declaration has the <schema> element as its parent, it has global scope within that schema.

After a simple type is defined, it can be used in an attribute or element declaration or <complexType> (which, in turn, can be used in an element declaration) definition.

Examples

The following examples show simple type definitions using <restriction>, <list>, and <union> elements.

Restriction

<xs:simpleType name="freezeboilrangeInteger">
  <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
    <xs:minInclusive value="0"/>
    <xs:maxInclusive value="100"/>
  </xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>

List

<xs:simpleType name="listOfDates">
  <xs:list itemType="xs:date">
</xs:simpleType>

Union

<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<xs:attribute name="allframesize">
  <xs:simpleType>
    <xs:union>
      <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="roadbikesize"/>
      </xs:simpleType>
      <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="mountainbikesize"/>
      </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:union>
  </xs:simpleType>
</xs:attribute>

<xs:simpleType name="roadbikesize">
  <xs:restriction base="xs:positiveInteger">
    <xs:enumeration value="46"/>
    <xs:enumeration value="52"/>
    <xs:enumeration value="55"/>
  </xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>

<xs:simpleType name="mountainbikesize">
  <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
    <xs:enumeration value="small"/>
    <xs:enumeration value="medium"/>
    <xs:enumeration value="large"/>
  </xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:schema>

Other Resources