A Quick Look at Schematron

As described in the March 2005 issue of CPU - Computer Power User magazine.

This Web site provides links to information about schematron, and links to some simple examples illustrating how schematron works. Enjoy! And If you like schematron, please remember that thanks should go the creator of schematron, Rick Jeliffe.

Examples - Downloadable ZIP File

• There are several examples files here -- why not download the whole lot as a ZIP file -- mar05.zip -- and install them on your own machine?

A) Information about Schematron

This sections lists useful resources for informaton about schematron, including specifications and tutorials.

• Schematron 1.5 specification -- http://xml.ascc.net/resource/schematron/Schematron2000.html
• Schematron 1.5 XSLT tools -- http://xml.ascc.net/schematron/1.5/ (The Tools section has links to XSLT definition files for schematron, with instructions).
• Schematron 1.5 resource list -- http://xml.ascc.net/schematron/
• Schematron 1.5 examples -- http://www.zvon.org/xxl/SchematronTutorial/General/contents.html
• Introduction to Schematron 1.5 -- http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2003/11/12/schematron.html (with examples).
• Introduction to schematron (earlier version) - http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2000/11/22/schematron.html (easy read)
• ISO Schematron -- http://www.schematron.com/ (information and specifications for the next-generation of schematron).

B) Example XML File and schematron Schemas

• Example XML document -- test1.xml
• Example Schematron schema -- test.sch
• Example windows *.BAT file to apply this schema to the example document using the Saxon XSLT processor -- tests.bat. You execute this script from the Windows Command Prompt, and must (a) modify the BAT file to reference your chosen / installed XSLT processor, and (b) download and install, in the same directory as the .BAT, XML and schema files, the XSLT files defining the schematron language (second item in previous section). These XSLT definition files are included in the ZIP file referenced at the top of this document.

C) XSLT Processors

This sections lists some open source XSLT processors you can download and use to test schematron schemas.

• XT - http://www.blnz.com/xt/index.html -- for Windows and Linux, Unix, or Mac OS/X.
• Saxon - http://saxon.sourceforge.net/ -- For any platform supporting Java. please download version 6.5.3, as later versions implement XSLT Version 2.0.