RE: [xml-dev] When to Validate XML Guidelines

["Champion, Mike" <Mike.Champion@SoftwareAG-USA.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bjoern Hoehrmann [mailto:derhoermi@gmx.net]
> Sent: Monday, October 01, 2001 1:54 PM
> To: Magick, Brian
> Cc: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
> Subject: Re: [xml-dev] When to Validate XML Guidelines
> 
> Validation is always necessary, since
> processing applications must assume some general structure of the
> document.

True, but "validation" doesn't necessarily mean XML DTD/Schema validation,
which is how I understood the question. As I understand typical practice
today (admittedly driven by the limitations of DTDs, but I don't think that
any of the Schema specs adquately address the  underlying problem), "real
world" companies tend to validate XML messages with business logic expressed
in code (or human review), moreso than with XML validation techniques.  An
XML schema/DTD can be simply a "contract" between the producer and consumer
of some data that can drive a more sophisticated validation process.

A "valid" URL must be accessible on the internet, a "valid" part number must
exist in a catalog, a "valid" prescription should not be for a drug that
unfavorably interacts with another drug currently prescribed ... and so on.