Validation Scenarios

A complex XML document is split in smaller interrelated modules. These modules do not make much sense individually and cannot be validated in isolation due to interdependencies with other modules. Oxygen XML Developer plugin validates the main module of the document when an imported module is checked for errors.

A typical example is the chunking of a DocBook XSL stylesheet that has chunk.xsl as the main module and param.xsl, chunk-common.xsl, and chunk-code.xsl as imported modules. param.xsl only defines XSLT parameters. The module chunk-common.xsl defines an XSLT template with the name chunk. Chunk-code.xsl calls this template. The parameters defined in param.xsl are used in the other modules without being redefined.

Validating chunk-code.xsl as an individual XSLT stylesheet generates misleading errors in regards to parameters and templates that are used but undefined. These errors are only caused by ignoring the context in which this module is used in real XSLT transformations and in which it is validated. To validate such a module, define a validation scenario to set the main module of the stylesheet and the validation engine used to find the errors. Usually this engine applies the transformation during the validation process to detect the errors that the transformation generates.

You can validate a stylesheet with several engines to make sure that you can use it in various environments and have the same results. For example, an XSLT stylesheet may be applied with Saxon 6.5, Xalan, and MSXML 4.0 engines in different production systems.

Other examples of documents that can benefit from a validation scenario include:

• A complex XQuery file with a main module that imports modules developed independently but validated in the context of the main module of the query. In an XQuery validation scenario, the default validator of Oxygen XML Developer plugin (Saxon 9) or any connection to a database that supports validation (Berkeley DB XML Database, eXist XML Database, Documentum xDB (X-Hive/DB) 10 XML Database, MarkLogic version 5 or newer) can be set as a validation engine.
• An XML document in which the master file includes smaller fragment files using XML entity references.

  Note

  If a master file is associated with the current file, the validation scenarios defined in the master file are used and take precedence over the default scenarios defined for the particular framework. For more information on master files, see Master Files Support or Working with Modular XML Files in the Master Files Context.

To watch our video demonstration about how to use a validation scenario in Oxygen XML Developer plugin, go to https://www.oxygenxml.com/demo/Validation_Scenario.html.