Impact of XML Schema changes on code that is generated by databinding to

["Costello, Roger L." <costello@mitre.org>]

Hi Folks,

Suppose I design my XML Schema to exactly meet the operational requirements of my users. My XML Schema is designed like a fine watch - all parts are precisely machined to work together.

I am trying to understand the impact of changes to the XML Schema.

Example: Suppose I am building a system that will exchange English family names. I did some research and found that all my users have English language family names under 100 characters in length, and their names consist of the characters: a-z, A-Z, space, hyphen, apostrophe, and period.

The following simpleType exactly implements the data requirements. It uses the minLength and maxLength facets to constrain the length. The regex in the pattern facet constrains the set of characters.

-------------------------------------------------
<simpleType name="English-language-family-name">
     <restriction base="string">
            <minLength value="1" />
            <maxLength value="100" />
            <pattern value="[a-zA-Z' \.-]+" />
     </restriction>
</simpleType>
-------------------------------------------------

Suppose that some time in the future I get new users with very long family names--over 100 characters. Or I get users with accented letters in their names. I update the simpleType to reflect the new operational requirements. What will be the impact of the change?

Specifically, suppose that I use a data binding tool to map my XML Schema to imperative code such as Java or C++ code. What will be the impact of the change on the Java or C++ code? Will the change in the simpleType result in breaking the Java or C++ code?

/Roger