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XmlSchemaValidator Class

Represents an XML Schema Definition Language (XSD) Schema validation engine. The XmlSchemaValidator class cannot be inherited.

Namespace:  System.Xml.Schema
Assembly:  System.Xml (in System.Xml.dll)

'Declaration
Public NotInheritable Class XmlSchemaValidator
'Usage
Dim instance As XmlSchemaValidator

The XmlSchemaValidator class provides an efficient, high-performance mechanism to validate XML data against XML schemas in a push-based manner. For example, the XmlSchemaValidator class allows you to validate an XML infoset in-place without having to serialize it as an XML document and then reparse the document using a validating XML reader. The XmlSchemaValidator class can also be used to build validation engines over custom XML data sources or as a way to build a validating XML writer.

For more information about the XmlSchemaValidator class, see the XmlSchemaValidator Push-Based Validation topic.

Security noteSecurity Note:

The ProcessInlineSchema and ProcessSchemaLocation validation flags of an XmlSchemaValidator object are not set be default. Additionally, the XmlResolver property of an XmlSchemaValidator object is Nothing by default. As a result, external schemas referenced in include, imports, or redefine elements are not resolved by default.

The following example validates the contosoBooks.xml file against the contosoBooks.xsd schema. The example uses the XmlSerializer class to deserialize the contosoBooks.xml file and pass the value of the nodes to the methods of the XmlSchemaValidator class.

Imports System
Imports System.Xml
Imports System.Xml.Schema
Imports System.Xml.Serialization
Imports System.Collections


Namespace Microsoft.Samples.Xml.Schema

    Class XmlSchemaValidatorExamples

        Shared Sub Main()

            ' The XML document to deserialize into the XmlSerializer object. 
            Dim reader As XmlReader = XmlReader.Create("contosoBooks.xml")

            ' The XmlSerializer object. 
            Dim serializer As XmlSerializer = New XmlSerializer(GetType(ContosoBooks))
            Dim books As ContosoBooks = CType(serializer.Deserialize(reader), ContosoBooks)

            ' The XmlSchemaSet object containing the schema used to validate the XML document. 
            Dim schemaSet As XmlSchemaSet = New XmlSchemaSet()
            schemaSet.Add("http://www.contoso.com/books", "contosoBooks.xsd")

            ' The XmlNamespaceManager object used to handle namespaces. 
            Dim manager As XmlNamespaceManager = New XmlNamespaceManager(reader.NameTable)

            ' Assign a ValidationEventHandler to handle schema validation warnings and errors. 
            Dim validator As XmlSchemaValidator = New XmlSchemaValidator(reader.NameTable, schemaSet, manager, XmlSchemaValidationFlags.None)
            'validator.ValidationEventHandler += New ValidationEventHandler(SchemaValidationEventHandler) 
            AddHandler validator.ValidationEventHandler, AddressOf SchemaValidationEventHandler

            ' Initialize the XmlSchemaValidator object.
            validator.Initialize()

            ' Validate the bookstore element, verify that all required attributes are present 
            ' and prepare to validate child content.
            validator.ValidateElement("bookstore", "http://www.contoso.com/books", Nothing)

            validator.GetUnspecifiedDefaultAttributes(New ArrayList())
            validator.ValidateEndOfAttributes(Nothing)

            ' Get the next exptected element in the bookstore context. 
            Dim particles() As XmlSchemaParticle = validator.GetExpectedParticles()
            Dim nextElement As XmlSchemaElement = particles(0)
            Console.WriteLine("Expected Element: '{0}'", nextElement.Name)

            For Each book As BookType In books.book
                ' Validate the book element.
                validator.ValidateElement("book", "http://www.contoso.com/books", Nothing)

                ' Get the exptected attributes for the book element.
                Console.Write(vbCrLf & "Expected attributes: ")
                Dim attributes() As XmlSchemaAttribute = validator.GetExpectedAttributes()
                For Each attribute As XmlSchemaAttribute In attributes
                    Console.Write("'{0}' ", attribute.Name)
                Next
                Console.WriteLine()

                ' Validate the genre attribute and display its post schema validation information. 
                If Not book.Genre Is Nothing Then
                    validator.ValidateAttribute("genre", "", book.Genre, schemaInfo)
                End If
                DisplaySchemaInfo()

                ' Validate the publicationdate attribute and display its post schema validation information. 
                If Not book.PublicationDate = Nothing Then
                    validator.ValidateAttribute("publicationdate", "", dateTimeGetter(book.PublicationDate), schemaInfo)
                End If
                DisplaySchemaInfo()

                ' Validate the ISBN attribute and display its post schema validation information. 
                If Not book.Isbn Is Nothing Then
                    validator.ValidateAttribute("ISBN", "", book.Isbn, schemaInfo)
                End If
                DisplaySchemaInfo()

                ' After validating all the attributes for the current element with ValidateAttribute method, 
                ' you must call GetUnspecifiedDefaultAttributes to validate the default attributes.
                validator.GetUnspecifiedDefaultAttributes(New ArrayList())

                ' Verify that all required attributes of the book element are present 
                ' and prepare to validate child content.
                validator.ValidateEndOfAttributes(Nothing)

                ' Validate the title element and its content.
                validator.ValidateElement("title", "http://www.contoso.com/books", Nothing)
                validator.ValidateEndElement(Nothing, book.Title)

                ' Validate the author element, verify that all required attributes are present 
                ' and prepare to validate child content.
                validator.ValidateElement("author", "http://www.contoso.com/books", Nothing)

                validator.GetUnspecifiedDefaultAttributes(New ArrayList())
                validator.ValidateEndOfAttributes(Nothing)

                If Not book.Author.Name Is Nothing Then 
                    ' Validate the name element and its content.
                    validator.ValidateElement("name", "http://www.contoso.com/books", Nothing)
                    validator.ValidateEndElement(Nothing, book.Author.Name)
                End If 

                If Not book.Author.FirstName Is Nothing Then 
                    ' Validate the first-name element and its content.
                    validator.ValidateElement("first-name", "http://www.contoso.com/books", Nothing)
                    validator.ValidateEndElement(Nothing, book.Author.FirstName)

                End If 

                If Not book.Author.LastName Is Nothing Then 
                    ' Validate the last-name element and its content.
                    validator.ValidateElement("last-name", "http://www.contoso.com/books", Nothing)
                    validator.ValidateEndElement(Nothing, book.Author.LastName)
                End If 

                ' Validate the content of the author element.
                validator.ValidateEndElement(Nothing)

                ' Validate the price element and its content.
                validator.ValidateElement("price", "http://www.contoso.com/books", Nothing)
                validator.ValidateEndElement(Nothing, book.Price)

                ' Validate the content of the book element.
                validator.ValidateEndElement(Nothing)
            Next 

            ' Validate the content of the bookstore element.
            validator.ValidateEndElement(Nothing)

            ' Close the XmlReader object.
            reader.Close()

        End Sub 

        Shared schemaInfo As XmlSchemaInfo = New XmlSchemaInfo()
        Shared dateTimeGetterContent As Object

        Shared Function dateTimeGetterHandle() As Object

            Return dateTimeGetterContent

        End Function 

        Shared Function dateTimeGetter(ByVal dateTime As DateTime) As XmlValueGetter

            dateTimeGetterContent = dateTime
            Return New XmlValueGetter(AddressOf dateTimeGetterHandle)

        End Function 

        Shared Sub DisplaySchemaInfo()

            If Not schemaInfo.SchemaElement Is Nothing Then
                Console.WriteLine("Element '{0}' with type '{1}' is '{2}'", schemaInfo.SchemaElement.Name, schemaInfo.SchemaType, schemaInfo.Validity)
            ElseIf Not schemaInfo.SchemaAttribute Is Nothing Then
                Console.WriteLine("Attribute '{0}' with type '{1}' is '{2}'", schemaInfo.SchemaAttribute.Name, schemaInfo.SchemaType, schemaInfo.Validity)
            End If 

        End Sub 

        Shared Sub SchemaValidationEventHandler(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As ValidationEventArgs)

            Select Case e.Severity
                Case XmlSeverityType.Error
                    Console.WriteLine(vbCrLf & "Error: {0}", e.Message)
                    Exit Sub 
                Case XmlSeverityType.Warning
                    Console.WriteLine(vbCrLf & "Warning: {0}", e.Message)
                    Exit Sub 
            End Select 

        End Sub 

    End Class

    <XmlRootAttribute("bookstore", Namespace:="http://www.contoso.com/books", IsNullable:=False)> _
    Public Class ContosoBooks

        <XmlElementAttribute("book")> _
        Public book() As BookType

    End Class 

    Public Class BookType

        <XmlAttributeAttribute("genre")> _
        Public Genre As String

        <XmlAttributeAttribute("publicationdate", DataType:="date")> _
        Public PublicationDate As DateTime

        <XmlAttributeAttribute("ISBN")> _
        Public Isbn As String

        <XmlElementAttribute("title")> _
        Public Title As String

        <XmlElementAttribute("author")> _
        Public Author As BookAuthor

        <XmlElementAttribute("price")> _
        Public Price As Decimal

    End Class 

    Public Class BookAuthor

        <XmlElementAttribute("name")> _
        Public Name As String

        <XmlElementAttribute("first-name")> _
        Public FirstName As String

        <XmlElementAttribute("last-name")> _
        Public LastName As String 

    End Class 

End Namespace

The example takes the contosoBooks.xml file as input.

<bookstore xmlns="http://www.contoso.com/books">
    <book genre="autobiography" publicationdate="1981-03-22" ISBN="1-861003-11-0">
        <title>The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin</title>
        <author>
            <first-name>Benjamin</first-name>
            <last-name>Franklin</last-name>
        </author>
        <price>8.99</price>
    </book>
    <book genre="novel" publicationdate="1967-11-17" ISBN="0-201-63361-2">
        <title>The Confidence Man</title>
        <author>
            <first-name>Herman</first-name>
            <last-name>Melville</last-name>
        </author>
        <price>11.99</price>
    </book>
    <book genre="philosophy" publicationdate="1991-02-15" ISBN="1-861001-57-6">
        <title>The Gorgias</title>
        <author>
            <name>Plato</name>
        </author>
        <price>9.99</price>
    </book>
</bookstore>

The example also takes the contosoBooks.xsd as an input.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xs:schema attributeFormDefault="unqualified" elementFormDefault="qualified" targetNamespace="http://www.contoso.com/books" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
    <xs:element name="bookstore">
        <xs:complexType>
            <xs:sequence>
                <xs:element maxOccurs="unbounded" name="book">
                    <xs:complexType>
                        <xs:sequence>
                            <xs:element name="title" type="xs:string" />
                            <xs:element name="author">
                                <xs:complexType>
                                    <xs:sequence>
                                        <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="name" type="xs:string" />
                                        <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="first-name" type="xs:string" />
                                        <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="last-name" type="xs:string" />
                                    </xs:sequence>
                                </xs:complexType>
                            </xs:element>
                            <xs:element name="price" type="xs:decimal" />
                        </xs:sequence>
                        <xs:attribute name="genre" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                        <xs:attribute name="publicationdate" type="xs:date" use="required" />
                        <xs:attribute name="ISBN" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                    </xs:complexType>
                </xs:element>
            </xs:sequence>
        </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>
</xs:schema>

System.Object
  System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaValidator

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 2.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: 3.0, 2.0, 1.0
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