XSD Last modified: Thursday, April 17, 2003
Short for XML Schema Definition, a way to describe and validate data in an XML environment. (A schema is a model for describing the structure of information.) XSD is a recommendation of the W3C. XSD has advantages over earlier XML schema languages, such as DTD. Because XSD is written in XML, there is no need for a parser. XSD defines a richer set of data types such as booleans, numbers, dates and times, and currencies -- which is invaluable for e-commerce applications. DTDs, on the other hand, express data types as explicit enumerations, which makes validation much more difficult and less accurate. More important, XSD makes it easier to validate documents based on namespaces (used to qualify element and attributes names by associating them with namespaces identified by URI references. Namespaces prevent identically custom-named tags that may be used in different XML documents from being read the same way), something DTDs cannot do. XSD is defined in the W3C's XML Schema Working Group Working Draft published on May 6, 1999.
•E-mail this definition to a colleague• For internet.com pages about XSD . Also check out the following links! Understanding XML Schemas  Article explores what schemas are, what validity means, how schemas differ from DTDs, and what new functionality will be gained from adopting them. Using W3C XML Schema This article is an introduction to using W3C XML Schemas, and also includes a comprehensive reference to the Schema data types and structures.	Formatting Standards XML data type DTD URI XML Give Us Your Feedback Shopping XSD Products Compare Products,Prices and Stores Shop by Category: Security Systems and Surveillance 16 Store Offers Watches 2 Store Offers Clothing 11 Store Offers Tools and Accessories 16 Store Offers Musical Instruments 24 Store Offers