Microsoft XML 2.5 SDK

XML Data Types Reference

In addition to the string and other primitive types defined by the XML 1.0 recommendation, the Microsoft XML processor supports a rich set of additional data types. This release also supports conversions between the primitive types and these rich data types.

Data types are referenced from the data type namespace, "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:datatypes". To use data types within an XML Schema, declare the data type namespace within the schema document. This documentation assumes that the data type namespace has been assigned the "dt" prefix. For example,

<Schema name="myschema"
        xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-data"
        xmlns:dt="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:datatypes">
 <!-- ... -->
</Schema>

Data Types As Elements

In Internet Explorer 5.01, you can use data types as elements in an XML document (though it is not possible to type such elements through schema). So rather than declaring a data type on the instance using the dt:dt attribute, or in the schema using the dt:type attribute or <datatype> element, you can use a data type declared as an element. The following example illustrates using the dt:dt attribute:

<shoes xmlns:dt="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:datatypes" id="f1121" sizes="mens"/>
<sizes id="mens">
  <size dt:dt="int">8</size>
  <size dt:dt="int">10</size>
  <size dt:dt="int">12</size>
  </sizes>
</shoes>

The next example is the same as the above XML, but the data types are declared as elements:

<shoes xmlns:dt="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:datatypes" id="f1121" sizes="mens"/>
<sizes id="mens">
  <dt:int>8</dt:int>
  <dt:int>10</dt:int>
  <dt:int>12</dt:int>
</sizes>
</shoes>

The datatypeproperty on data type elements is read-only and returns the data type of the element. Use the nodeTypedValue property to return the typed value of the element. Getting the nodeTypedValue of an element that has no data type returns the string value of the element.

The contents of data type elements are validated against the type of the element. If a data type isn't supported by the parser it is disregarded, and no error occurs. A data type element cannot have child elements.

XML Data Types

Primitive XML Data Types

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) XML 1.0 Recommendation also defines enumerated types (notations and enumerations) and a set of tokenized types. These types, defined in the W3C XML 1.0 Recommendation, are referred to as "primitive types" within this Microsoft XML documentation.

The primitive types include the following, defined in Section 3.3.1 of the W3C XML 1.0 Recommendation.

Supported Data Type Conversions

The following table lists the data type conversions supported by the Microsoft XML processor in Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5.

See Also

XML Schema Developer's Guide

XML Schema Reference