Visual Studio Hacks

Enable IntelliSense for HTML and XML Documents #32

Chapter 4, Customizing Visual Studio

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HACK

<xsd:complexType name="AlphaControlDef">

<xsd:attribute name="Alpha" type="xsd:boolean" />

<xsd:attribute name="Delta" type="xsd:double" />

<xsd:attribute name="Gamma">

<xsd:simpleType>

<xsd:restriction base="xsd:string">

<xsd:enumeration value="ValueOne" />

<xsd:enumeration value="ValueTwo" />

<xsd:enumeration value="ValueThree" />

</xsd:restriction>

</xsd:simpleType>

</xsd:attribute>

<xsd:attributeGroup ref="BaseClassAttributes" />

</xsd:complexType>

This type represents a few simple attributes that demonstrate much of the

flexibility of the schema. Our element contains three attributes and also a

group of attributes defined elsewhere. Both Alpha and Delta have simple

xsd

types set, and Visual Studio will simply prompt you to enter a value of the

appropriate type, providing a list of choices where applicable (such as True/

False with Boolean attributes).

The attribute definition for Gamma defines a custom

simpleType, which

allows us to enhance the built-in

xsd types. We start with a string, but we

add a restriction to it. When we edit this type in Visual Studio, this restric-

tion tells Visual Studio that the value for Gamma can only be one of the

options listed in the enumeration, so it will prompt the developer to pick

one of them, as shown in Figure 4-22.

XML schemas provide a great many options ...