Using XML with Legacy Business Applications

Named Types and Anonymous Types

Although I didn't point it out at the time, we have already seen examples of named and anonymous types. A named type has a name Attribute in the xs:simpleType or xs:complexType Element where it is defined. In contrast, an anonymous type has no name and is defined in-line, immediately following the Element where it is used. In such cases the Element has no type Attribute. SimpleCSV1.xsd, shown in the beginning of the chapter, uses only anonymous types. SimpleCSV6.xsd uses named types for the Row and ColumnXX Elements.

The scope of anonymous types is local to the Element to which they apply. As such, they are not reusable. This flies in the face of good software engineering practices for a number of obvious reasons. ...