Handling Standard XML Schemas
An XML Schema document is an XML document that defines a set of XML tag names that can be used to describe something in XML. Such documents typically end with the file extension
.xsd
. A
W3C standard defines the XML language used to define the specialized tag names. An IVOA standard XML schema is one that has been defined in an IVOA specification document that goes through the IVOA standardization process. Standard schemas are most commonly used in the IVOA in support of Registries, but they are also used in other areas.
Naming Conventions
Namespace
A schema is identified via its
namespace URI, which is globally unique. It is assigned within the schema (.xsd) document. A namespace URI for an IVOA standard schema must comply with the following convention:
http://ivoa.net/xml/shortname/vversion
where
shortname is a short name identifying the schema and
version is the version of the schema. For example, VOResource namespace URI is
http://ivoa.net/xml/VOResource/v1.0