1 \input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*-
3 @setfilename ../../info/nxml-mode
8 This manual documents nxml-mode, an Emacs major mode for editing
9 XML with RELAX NG support.
11 Copyright @copyright{} 2007-2012
12 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
15 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
16 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
17 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
18 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
19 Manual,'' and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
20 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
21 License'' in the Emacs manual.
23 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have the freedom to copy and
24 modify this GNU manual. Buying copies from the FSF supports it in
25 developing GNU and promoting software freedom.''
27 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
28 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
29 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
30 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
34 @dircategory Emacs editing modes
36 * nXML Mode: (nxml-mode). XML editing mode with RELAX NG support.
44 This manual is not yet complete.
49 * Inserting end-tags::
60 nXML mode is an Emacs major-mode for editing XML documents. It supports
61 editing well-formed XML documents, and provides schema-sensitive editing
62 using RELAX NG Compact Syntax. To get started, visit a file containing an
63 XML document, and, if necessary, use @kbd{M-x nxml-mode} to switch to nXML
64 mode. By default, @code{auto-mode-alist} and @code{magic-fallback-alist}
65 put buffers in nXML mode if they have recognizable XML content or file
66 extensions. You may wish to customize the settings, for example to
67 recognize different file extensions.
69 Once in nXML mode, you can type @kbd{C-h m} for basic information on the
72 The @file{etc/nxml} directory in the Emacs distribution contains some data
73 files used by nXML mode, and includes two files (@file{test-valid.xml} and
74 @file{test-invalid.xml}) that provide examples of valid and invalid XML
77 To get validation and schema-sensitive editing, you need a RELAX NG Compact
78 Syntax (RNC) schema for your document (@pxref{Locating a schema}). The
79 @file{etc/schema} directory includes some schemas for popular document
80 types. See @url{http://relaxng.org/} for more information on RELAX NG.
81 You can use the @samp{Trang} program from
82 @url{http://www.thaiopensource.com/relaxng/trang.html} to
83 automatically create RNC schemas. This program can:
87 infer an RNC schema from an instance document;
89 convert a DTD to an RNC schema;
91 convert a RELAX NG XML syntax schema to an RNC schema.
94 @noindent To convert a RELAX NG XML syntax (@samp{.rng}) schema to a RNC
95 one, you can also use the XSLT stylesheet from
96 @url{http://www.pantor.com/download.html}.
98 To convert a W3C XML Schema to an RNC schema, you need first to convert it
99 to RELAX NG XML syntax using the RELAX NG converter tool @code{rngconv}
100 (built on top of MSV). See @url{https://github.com/kohsuke/msv}
101 and @url{https://msv.dev.java.net/}.
103 For historical discussions only, see the mailing list archives at
104 @url{http://groups.yahoo.com/group/emacs-nxml-mode/}. Please make all new
105 discussions on the @samp{help-gnu-emacs} and @samp{emacs-devel} mailing
106 lists. Report any bugs with @kbd{M-x report-emacs-bug}.
112 Apart from real-time validation, the most important feature that
113 nxml-mode provides for assisting in document creation is "completion".
114 Completion assists the user in inserting characters at point, based on
115 knowledge of the schema and on the contents of the buffer before
118 The traditional GNU Emacs key combination for completion in a
119 buffer is @kbd{M-@key{TAB}}. However, many window systems
120 and window managers use this key combination themselves (typically for
121 switching between windows) and do not pass it to applications. It's
122 hard to find key combinations in GNU Emacs that are both easy to type
123 and not taken by something else. @kbd{C-@key{RET}} (i.e.
124 pressing the Enter or Return key, while the Ctrl key is held down) is
125 available. It won't be available on a traditional terminal (because
126 it is indistinguishable from Return), but it will work with a window
127 system. Therefore we adopt the following solution by default: use
128 @kbd{C-@key{RET}} when there's a window system and
129 @kbd{M-@key{TAB}} when there's not. In the following, I
130 will assume that a window system is being used and will therefore
131 refer to @kbd{C-@key{RET}}.
133 Completion works by examining the symbol preceding point. This
134 is the symbol to be completed. The symbol to be completed may be the
135 empty. Completion considers what symbols starting with the symbol to
136 be completed would be valid replacements for the symbol to be
137 completed, given the schema and the contents of the buffer before
138 point. These symbols are the possible completions. An example may
139 make this clearer. Suppose the buffer looks like this (where @point{}
143 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
148 and the schema is XHTML. In this context, the symbol to be completed
149 is @samp{h}. The possible completions consist of just
150 @samp{head}. Another example, is
153 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
159 In this case, the symbol to be completed is empty, and the possible
160 completions are @samp{base}, @samp{isindex},
161 @samp{link}, @samp{meta}, @samp{script},
162 @samp{style}, @samp{title}. Another example is:
165 <html xmlns="@point{}
169 In this case, the symbol to be completed is empty, and the possible
170 completions are just @samp{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}.
172 When you type @kbd{C-@key{RET}}, what happens depends
173 on what the set of possible completions are.
177 If the set of completions is empty, nothing
180 If there is one possible completion, then that completion is
181 inserted, together with any following characters that are
182 required. For example, in this case:
185 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
190 @kbd{C-@key{RET}} will yield
193 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
197 If there is more than one possible completion, but all
198 possible completions share a common non-empty prefix, then that prefix
199 is inserted. For example, suppose the buffer is:
206 The symbol to be completed is @samp{x}. The possible completions
207 are @samp{xmlns} and @samp{xml:lang}. These share a
208 common prefix of @samp{xml}. Thus, @kbd{C-@key{RET}}
216 Typically, you would do @kbd{C-@key{RET}} again, which would
217 have the result described in the next item.
219 If there is more than one possible completion, but the
220 possible completions do not share a non-empty prefix, then Emacs will
221 prompt you to input the symbol in the minibuffer, initializing the
222 minibuffer with the symbol to be completed, and popping up a buffer
223 showing the possible completions. You can now input the symbol to be
224 inserted. The symbol you input will be inserted in the buffer instead
225 of the symbol to be completed. Emacs will then insert any required
226 characters after the symbol. For example, if it contains:
233 Emacs will prompt you in the minibuffer with
236 Attribute: xml@point{}
240 and the buffer showing possible completions will contain
243 Possible completions are:
248 If you input @kbd{xmlns}, the result will be:
251 <html xmlns="@point{}
255 (If you do @kbd{C-@key{RET}} again, the namespace URI will
256 be inserted. Should that happen automatically?)
259 @node Inserting end-tags
260 @chapter Inserting end-tags
262 The main redundancy in XML syntax is end-tags. nxml-mode provides
263 several ways to make it easier to enter end-tags. You can use all of
264 these without a schema.
266 You can use @kbd{C-@key{RET}} after @samp{</}
267 to complete the rest of the end-tag.
269 @kbd{C-c C-f} inserts an end-tag for the element containing
270 point. This command is useful when you want to input the start-tag,
271 then input the content and finally input the end-tag. The @samp{f}
272 is mnemonic for finish.
274 If you want to keep tags balanced and input the end-tag at the
275 same time as the start-tag, before inputting the content, then you can
276 use @kbd{C-c C-i}. This inserts a @samp{>}, then inserts
277 the end-tag and leaves point before the end-tag. @kbd{C-c C-b}
278 is similar but more convenient for block-level elements: it puts the
279 start-tag, point and the end-tag on successive lines, appropriately
280 indented. The @samp{i} is mnemonic for inline and the
281 @samp{b} is mnemonic for block.
283 Finally, you can customize nxml-mode so that @kbd{/}
284 automatically inserts the rest of the end-tag when it occurs after
288 @kbd{M-x customize-variable @key{RET} nxml-slash-auto-complete-flag @key{RET}}
292 and then following the instructions in the displayed buffer.
297 Emacs has several commands that operate on paragraphs, most
298 notably @kbd{M-q}. nXML mode redefines these to work in a way
299 that is useful for XML. The exact rules that are used to find the
300 beginning and end of a paragraph are complicated; they are designed
301 mainly to ensure that @kbd{M-q} does the right thing.
303 A paragraph consists of one or more complete, consecutive lines.
304 A group of lines is not considered a paragraph unless it contains some
305 non-whitespace characters between tags or inside comments. A blank
306 line separates paragraphs. A single tag on a line by itself also
307 separates paragraphs. More precisely, if one tag together with any
308 leading and trailing whitespace completely occupy one or more lines,
309 then those lines will not be included in any paragraph.
311 A start-tag at the beginning of the line (possibly indented) may
312 be treated as starting a paragraph. Similarly, an end-tag at the end
313 of the line may be treated as ending a paragraph. The following rules
314 are used to determine whether such a tag is in fact treated as a
319 If the schema does not allow text at that point, then it
320 is a paragraph boundary.
322 If the end-tag corresponding to the start-tag is not at
323 the end of its line, or the start-tag corresponding to the end-tag is
324 not at the beginning of its line, then it is not a paragraph
325 boundary. For example, in
328 <p>This is a paragraph with an
329 <emph>emphasized</emph> phrase.
333 the @samp{<emph>} start-tag would not be considered as
334 starting a paragraph, because its corresponding end-tag is not at the
337 If there is text that is a sibling in element tree, then
338 it is not a paragraph boundary. For example, in
341 <p>This is a paragraph with an
342 <emph>emphasized phrase that takes one source line</emph>
346 the @samp{<emph>} start-tag would not be considered as
347 starting a paragraph, even though its end-tag is at the end of its
348 line, because there the text @samp{This is a paragraph with an}
349 is a sibling of the @samp{emph} element.
351 Otherwise, it is a paragraph boundary.
357 nXML mode allows you to display all or part of a buffer as an
358 outline, in a similar way to Emacs' outline mode. An outline in nXML
359 mode is based on recognizing two kinds of element: sections and
360 headings. There is one heading for every section and one section for
361 every heading. A section contains its heading as or within its first
362 child element. A section also contains its subordinate sections (its
363 subsections). The text content of a section consists of anything in a
364 section that is neither a subsection nor a heading.
366 Note that this is a different model from that used by XHTML.
367 nXML mode's outline support will not be useful for XHTML unless you
368 adopt a convention of adding a @code{div} to enclose each
369 section, rather than having sections implicitly delimited by different
370 @code{h@var{n}} elements. This limitation may be removed
373 The variable @code{nxml-section-element-name-regexp} gives
374 a regexp for the local names (i.e. the part of the name following any
375 prefix) of section elements. The variable
376 @code{nxml-heading-element-name-regexp} gives a regexp for the
377 local names of heading elements. For an element to be recognized
382 its start-tag must occur at the beginning of a line
385 its local name must match
386 @code{nxml-section-element-name-regexp};
388 either its first child element or a descendant of that
389 first child element must have a local name that matches
390 @code{nxml-heading-element-name-regexp}; the first such element
391 is treated as the section's heading.
395 You can customize these variables using @kbd{M-x
398 There are three possible outline states for a section:
402 normal, showing everything, including its heading, text
403 content and subsections; each subsection is displayed according to the
404 state of that subsection;
406 showing just its heading, with both its text content and
407 its subsections hidden; all subsections are hidden regardless of their
410 showing its heading and its subsections, with its text
411 content hidden; each subsection is displayed according to the state of
415 In the last two states, where the text content is hidden, the
416 heading is displayed specially, in an abbreviated form. An element
422 <para>There are many kinds of food.</para>
427 would be displayed on a single line like this:
434 If there are hidden subsections, then a @code{+} will be used
435 instead of a @code{-} like this:
442 If there are non-hidden subsections, then the section will instead be
447 <-section>Delicious Food...</>
448 <-section>Distasteful Food...</>
453 The heading is always displayed with an indent that corresponds to its
454 depth in the outline, even it is not actually indented in the buffer.
455 The variable @code{nxml-outline-child-indent} controls how much
456 a subheading is indented with respect to its parent heading when the
457 heading is being displayed specially.
459 Commands to change the outline state of sections are bound to
460 key sequences that start with @kbd{C-c C-o} (@kbd{o} is
461 mnemonic for outline). The third and final key has been chosen to be
462 consistent with outline mode. In the following descriptions
463 current section means the section containing point, or, more precisely,
464 the innermost section containing the character immediately following
469 @kbd{C-c C-o C-a} shows all sections in the buffer
472 @kbd{C-c C-o C-t} hides the text content
473 of all sections in the buffer.
475 @kbd{C-c C-o C-c} hides the text content
476 of the current section.
478 @kbd{C-c C-o C-e} shows the text content
479 of the current section.
481 @kbd{C-c C-o C-d} hides the text content
482 and subsections of the current section.
484 @kbd{C-c C-o C-s} shows the current section
485 and all its direct and indirect subsections normally.
487 @kbd{C-c C-o C-k} shows the headings of the
488 direct and indirect subsections of the current section.
490 @kbd{C-c C-o C-l} hides the text content of the
491 current section and of its direct and indirect
494 @kbd{C-c C-o C-i} shows the headings of the
495 direct subsections of the current section.
497 @kbd{C-c C-o C-o} hides as much as possible without
498 hiding the current section's text content; the headings of ancestor
499 sections of the current section and their child section sections will
503 When a heading is displayed specially, you can use
504 @key{RET} in that heading to show the text content of the section
505 in the same way as @kbd{C-c C-o C-e}.
507 You can also use the mouse to change the outline state:
508 @kbd{S-mouse-2} hides the text content of a section in the same
509 way as@kbd{C-c C-o C-c}; @kbd{mouse-2} on a specially
510 displayed heading shows the text content of the section in the same
511 way as @kbd{C-c C-o C-e}; @kbd{mouse-1} on a specially
512 displayed start-tag toggles the display of subheadings on and
515 The outline state for each section is stored with the first
516 character of the section (as a text property). Every command that
517 changes the outline state of any section updates the display of the
518 buffer so that each section is displayed correctly according to its
519 outline state. If the section structure is subsequently changed, then
520 it is possible for the display to no longer correctly reflect the
521 stored outline state. @kbd{C-c C-o C-r} can be used to refresh
522 the display so it is correct again.
524 @node Locating a schema
525 @chapter Locating a schema
527 nXML mode has a configurable set of rules to locate a schema for
528 the file being edited. The rules are contained in one or more schema
529 locating files, which are XML documents.
531 The variable @samp{rng-schema-locating-files} specifies
532 the list of the file-names of schema locating files that nXML mode
533 should use. The order of the list is significant: when file
534 @var{x} occurs in the list before file @var{y} then rules
535 from file @var{x} have precedence over rules from file
536 @var{y}. A filename specified in
537 @samp{rng-schema-locating-files} may be relative. If so, it will
538 be resolved relative to the document for which a schema is being
539 located. It is not an error if relative file-names in
540 @samp{rng-schema-locating-files} do not exist. You can use
541 @kbd{M-x customize-variable @key{RET} rng-schema-locating-files
542 @key{RET}} to customize the list of schema locating
545 By default, @samp{rng-schema-locating-files} list has two
546 members: @samp{schemas.xml}, and
547 @samp{@var{dist-dir}/schema/schemas.xml} where
548 @samp{@var{dist-dir}} is the directory containing the nXML
549 distribution. The first member will cause nXML mode to use a file
550 @samp{schemas.xml} in the same directory as the document being
551 edited if such a file exist. The second member contains rules for the
552 schemas that are included with the nXML distribution.
555 * Commands for locating a schema::
556 * Schema locating files::
559 @node Commands for locating a schema
560 @section Commands for locating a schema
562 The command @kbd{C-c C-s C-w} will tell you what schema
563 is currently being used.
565 The rules for locating a schema are applied automatically when
566 you visit a file in nXML mode. However, if you have just created a new
567 file and the schema cannot be inferred from the file-name, then this
568 will not locate the right schema. In this case, you should insert the
569 start-tag of the root element and then use the command @kbd{C-c C-s
570 C-a}, which reapplies the rules based on the current content of
571 the document. It is usually not necessary to insert the complete
572 start-tag; often just @samp{<@var{name}} is
575 If you want to use a schema that has not yet been added to the
576 schema locating files, you can use the command @kbd{C-c C-s C-f}
577 to manually select the file containing the schema for the document in
578 current buffer. Emacs will read the file-name of the schema from the
579 minibuffer. After reading the file-name, Emacs will ask whether you
580 wish to add a rule to a schema locating file that persistently
581 associates the document with the selected schema. The rule will be
582 added to the first file in the list specified
583 @samp{rng-schema-locating-files}; it will create the file if
584 necessary, but will not create a directory. If the variable
585 @samp{rng-schema-locating-files} has not been customized, this
586 means that the rule will be added to the file @samp{schemas.xml}
587 in the same directory as the document being edited.
589 The command @kbd{C-c C-s C-t} allows you to select a schema by
590 specifying an identifier for the type of the document. The schema
591 locating files determine the available type identifiers and what
592 schema is used for each type identifier. This is useful when it is
593 impossible to infer the right schema from either the file-name or the
594 content of the document, even though the schema is already in the
595 schema locating file. A situation in which this can occur is when
596 there are multiple variants of a schema where all valid documents have
597 the same document element. For example, XHTML has Strict and
598 Transitional variants. In a situation like this, a schema locating file
599 can define a type identifier for each variant. As with @kbd{C-c
600 C-s C-f}, Emacs will ask whether you wish to add a rule to a schema
601 locating file that persistently associates the document with the
602 specified type identifier.
604 The command @kbd{C-c C-s C-l} adds a rule to a schema
605 locating file that persistently associates the document with
606 the schema that is currently being used.
608 @node Schema locating files
609 @section Schema locating files
611 Each schema locating file specifies a list of rules. The rules
612 from each file are appended in order. To locate a schema each rule is
613 applied in turn until a rule matches. The first matching rule is then
614 used to determine the schema.
616 Schema locating files are designed to be useful for other
617 applications that need to locate a schema for a document. In fact,
618 there is nothing specific to locating schemas in the design; it could
619 equally well be used for locating a stylesheet.
622 * Schema locating file syntax basics::
623 * Using the document's URI to locate a schema::
624 * Using the document element to locate a schema::
625 * Using type identifiers in schema locating files::
626 * Using multiple schema locating files::
629 @node Schema locating file syntax basics
630 @subsection Schema locating file syntax basics
632 There is a schema for schema locating files in the file
633 @samp{locate.rnc} in the schema directory. Schema locating
634 files must be valid with respect to this schema.
636 The document element of a schema locating file must be
637 @samp{locatingRules} and the namespace URI must be
638 @samp{http://thaiopensource.com/ns/locating-rules/1.0}. The
639 children of the document element specify rules. The order of the
640 children is the same as the order of the rules. Here's a complete
641 example of a schema locating file:
644 <?xml version="1.0"?>
645 <locatingRules xmlns="http://thaiopensource.com/ns/locating-rules/1.0">
646 <namespace ns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" uri="xhtml.rnc"/>
647 <documentElement localName="book" uri="docbook.rnc"/>
652 This says to use the schema @samp{xhtml.rnc} for a document with
653 namespace @samp{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}, and to use the
654 schema @samp{docbook.rnc} for a document whose local name is
655 @samp{book}. If the document element had both a namespace URI
656 of @samp{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml} and a local name of
657 @samp{book}, then the matching rule that comes first will be
658 used and so the schema @samp{xhtml.rnc} would be used. There is
659 no precedence between different types of rule; the first matching rule
662 As usual with XML-related technologies, resources are identified
663 by URIs. The @samp{uri} attribute identifies the schema by
664 specifying the URI. The URI may be relative. If so, it is resolved
665 relative to the URI of the schema locating file that contains
666 attribute. This means that if the value of @samp{uri} attribute
667 does not contain a @samp{/}, then it will refer to a filename in
668 the same directory as the schema locating file.
670 @node Using the document's URI to locate a schema
671 @subsection Using the document's URI to locate a schema
673 A @samp{uri} rule locates a schema based on the URI of the
674 document. The @samp{uri} attribute specifies the URI of the
675 schema. The @samp{resource} attribute can be used to specify
676 the schema for a particular document. For example,
679 <uri resource="spec.xml" uri="docbook.rnc"/>
683 specifies that the schema for @samp{spec.xml} is
686 The @samp{pattern} attribute can be used instead of the
687 @samp{resource} attribute to specify the schema for any document
688 whose URI matches a pattern. The pattern has the same syntax as an
689 absolute or relative URI except that the path component of the URI can
690 use a @samp{*} character to stand for zero or more characters
691 within a path segment (i.e. any character other @samp{/}).
692 Typically, the URI pattern looks like a relative URI, but, whereas a
693 relative URI in the @samp{resource} attribute is resolved into a
694 particular absolute URI using the base URI of the schema locating
695 file, a relative URI pattern matches if it matches some number of
696 complete path segments of the document's URI ending with the last path
697 segment of the document's URI. For example,
700 <uri pattern="*.xsl" uri="xslt.rnc"/>
704 specifies that the schema for documents with a URI whose path ends
705 with @samp{.xsl} is @samp{xslt.rnc}.
707 A @samp{transformURI} rule locates a schema by
708 transforming the URI of the document. The @samp{fromPattern}
709 attribute specifies a URI pattern with the same meaning as the
710 @samp{pattern} attribute of the @samp{uri} element. The
711 @samp{toPattern} attribute is a URI pattern that is used to
712 generate the URI of the schema. Each @samp{*} in the
713 @samp{toPattern} is replaced by the string that matched the
714 corresponding @samp{*} in the @samp{fromPattern}. The
715 resulting string is appended to the initial part of the document's URI
716 that was not explicitly matched by the @samp{fromPattern}. The
717 rule matches only if the transformed URI identifies an existing
718 resource. For example, the rule
721 <transformURI fromPattern="*.xml" toPattern="*.rnc"/>
725 would transform the URI @samp{file:///home/jjc/docs/spec.xml}
726 into the URI @samp{file:///home/jjc/docs/spec.rnc}. Thus, this
727 rule specifies that to locate a schema for a document
728 @samp{@var{foo}.xml}, Emacs should test whether a file
729 @samp{@var{foo}.rnc} exists in the same directory as
730 @samp{@var{foo}.xml}, and, if so, should use it as the
733 @node Using the document element to locate a schema
734 @subsection Using the document element to locate a schema
736 A @samp{documentElement} rule locates a schema based on
737 the local name and prefix of the document element. For example, a rule
740 <documentElement prefix="xsl" localName="stylesheet" uri="xslt.rnc"/>
744 specifies that when the name of the document element is
745 @samp{xsl:stylesheet}, then @samp{xslt.rnc} should be used
746 as the schema. Either the @samp{prefix} or
747 @samp{localName} attribute may be omitted to allow any prefix or
750 A @samp{namespace} rule locates a schema based on the
751 namespace URI of the document element. For example, a rule
754 <namespace ns="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" uri="xslt.rnc"/>
758 specifies that when the namespace URI of the document is
759 @samp{http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform}, then
760 @samp{xslt.rnc} should be used as the schema.
762 @node Using type identifiers in schema locating files
763 @subsection Using type identifiers in schema locating files
765 Type identifiers allow a level of indirection in locating the
766 schema for a document. Instead of associating the document directly
767 with a schema URI, the document is associated with a type identifier,
768 which is in turn associated with a schema URI. nXML mode does not
769 constrain the format of type identifiers. They can be simply strings
770 without any formal structure or they can be public identifiers or
771 URIs. Note that these type identifiers have nothing to do with the
772 DOCTYPE declaration. When comparing type identifiers, whitespace is
773 normalized in the same way as with the @samp{xsd:token}
774 datatype: leading and trailing whitespace is stripped; other sequences
775 of whitespace are normalized to a single space character.
777 Each of the rules described in previous sections that uses a
778 @samp{uri} attribute to specify a schema, can instead use a
779 @samp{typeId} attribute to specify a type identifier. The type
780 identifier can be associated with a URI using a @samp{typeId}
781 element. For example,
784 <locatingRules xmlns="http://thaiopensource.com/ns/locating-rules/1.0">
785 <namespace ns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" typeId="XHTML"/>
786 <typeId id="XHTML" typeId="XHTML Strict"/>
787 <typeId id="XHTML Strict" uri="xhtml-strict.rnc"/>
788 <typeId id="XHTML Transitional" uri="xhtml-transitional.rnc"/>
793 declares three type identifiers @samp{XHTML} (representing the
794 default variant of XHTML to be used), @samp{XHTML Strict} and
795 @samp{XHTML Transitional}. Such a schema locating file would
796 use @samp{xhtml-strict.rnc} for a document whose namespace is
797 @samp{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}. But it is considerably
798 more flexible than a schema locating file that simply specified
801 <namespace ns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" uri="xhtml-strict.rnc"/>
805 A user can easily use @kbd{C-c C-s C-t} to select between XHTML
806 Strict and XHTML Transitional. Also, a user can easily add a catalog
809 <locatingRules xmlns="http://thaiopensource.com/ns/locating-rules/1.0">
810 <typeId id="XHTML" typeId="XHTML Transitional"/>
815 that makes the default variant of XHTML be XHTML Transitional.
817 @node Using multiple schema locating files
818 @subsection Using multiple schema locating files
820 The @samp{include} element includes rules from another
821 schema locating file. The behavior is exactly as if the rules from
822 that file were included in place of the @samp{include} element.
823 Relative URIs are resolved into absolute URIs before the inclusion is
824 performed. For example,
827 <include rules="../rules.xml"/>
831 includes the rules from @samp{rules.xml}.
833 The process of locating a schema takes as input a list of schema
834 locating files. The rules in all these files and in the files they
835 include are resolved into a single list of rules, which are applied
836 strictly in order. Sometimes this order is not what is needed.
837 For example, suppose you have two schema locating files, a private
841 <locatingRules xmlns="http://thaiopensource.com/ns/locating-rules/1.0">
842 <namespace ns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" uri="xhtml.rnc"/>
847 followed by a public file
850 <locatingRules xmlns="http://thaiopensource.com/ns/locating-rules/1.0">
851 <transformURI pathSuffix=".xml" replacePathSuffix=".rnc"/>
852 <namespace ns="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" typeId="XSLT"/>
857 The effect of these two files is that the XHTML @samp{namespace}
858 rule takes precedence over the @samp{transformURI} rule, which
859 is almost certainly not what is needed. This can be solved by adding
860 an @samp{applyFollowingRules} to the private file.
863 <locatingRules xmlns="http://thaiopensource.com/ns/locating-rules/1.0">
864 <applyFollowingRules ruleType="transformURI"/>
865 <namespace ns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" uri="xhtml.rnc"/>
872 nxml-mode is designed to support the creation of standalone XML
873 documents that do not depend on a DTD. Although it is common practice
874 to insert a DOCTYPE declaration referencing an external DTD, this has
875 undesirable side-effects. It means that the document is no longer
876 self-contained. It also means that different XML parsers may interpret
877 the document in different ways, since the XML Recommendation does not
878 require XML parsers to read the DTD. With DTDs, it was impractical to
879 get validation without using an external DTD or reference to an
880 parameter entity. With RELAX NG and other schema languages, you can
881 simultaneously get the benefits of validation and standalone XML
882 documents. Therefore, I recommend that you do not reference an
883 external DOCTYPE in your XML documents.
885 One problem is entities for characters. Typically, as well as
886 providing validation, DTDs also provide a set of character entities
887 for documents to use. Schemas cannot provide this functionality,
888 because schema validation happens after XML parsing. The recommended
889 solution is to either use the Unicode characters directly, or, if this
890 is impractical, use character references. nXML mode supports this by
891 providing commands for entering characters and character references
892 using the Unicode names, and can display the glyph corresponding to a
898 nXML mode has some limitations:
902 DTD support is limited. Internal parsed general entities declared
903 in the internal subset are supported provided they do not contain
904 elements. Other usage of DTDs is ignored.
906 The restrictions on RELAX NG schemas in section 7 of the RELAX NG
907 specification are not enforced.