XML in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Name

xs:complexType

Synopsis

<xs:complexType

  abstract = "( true | false )"
  block = "( #all | extension | restriction )"
  final = "( #all | extension | restriction )"
  id = "ID"
  mixed = "( true | false )"
  name = "NCName"
  >
  <!-- ( xs:annotation?, (xs:simpleContent | xs:complexContent
       | ((xs:group | xs:all | xs:choice | xs:sequence)?,
         ((xs:attribute | xs:attributeGroup)*, xs:anyAttribute?)))) -->
</xs:complexType>

The xs:complexType element defines a new complex type, that is, an element type that can potentially contain child elements, attributes, or both. The valid child elements and attributes for elements of this type are specified by the contents of the xs:complexType element. The mixed attribute specifies whether the complex type is allowed to contain text interspersed with its child elements. If the xs:complexType element is a top-level element, then it has a name attribute and defines a named type. Otherwise, if the xs:complexType element appears inside an xs:element element, then it does not have a name attribute and defines an anonymous type for that element alone.

If the abstract attribute has the value true, then no elements of this type can be included in instance documents—only elements of subtypes derived from this type, which are marked as elements of the subtype by an xsi:type attribute, can be included. If the final attribute has the value restriction, then this type cannot be subtyped by restriction. If the final attribute has the value extension, then this type cannot ...