Re: [xml-dev] Schemaless XML?

[Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>]

> 
> So it's hard to see how, in the scenario presented grammars of any sort
> are a compelling part of the solution. And if by "schema" you specifically
> mean XSDs, then absolutely no, not needed, not wanted, not going to add
> significant value in this context.
> 


In trying to form an understanding of a large mass of undocumented XML content, I have sometimes found it useful to derive a schema. It's not that the schema contains any information that wasn't in the data; it's just that it provides a distillation that may be more tractable: it tells you what elements are present and how they relate.

But that's part of the human process of extracting meaning from the data. I've no idea how you go about automating that process.

Michael Kay
Saxonica