BonXai: Combining the Simplicity of DTD with the Expressiveness of XML Schema

Abstract

While the migration from DTD to XML Schema was driven by a need for increased expressivity and flexibility, the latter was also significantly more complex to use and understand. Whereas DTDs are characterized by their simplicity, XML Schema Documents are notoriously difficult. In this article, we introduce the XML specification language BonXai, which incorporates many features of XML Schema but is arguably almost as easy to use as DTDs. In brief, the latter is achieved by sacrificing the explicit use of types in favor of simple patterns expressing contexts for elements. The goal of BonXai is not to replace XML Schema but rather to provide a simpler alternative for users who want to go beyond the expressiveness and features of DTD but do not need the explicit use of types. Furthermore, XML Schema processing tools can be used as a back-end for BonXai, since BonXai can be automatically converted into XML Schema. A particularly strong point of BonXai is its solid foundation rooted in a decade of theoretical work around pattern-based schemas. We present a formal model for a core fragment of BonXai and the translation algorithms to and from a core fragment of XML Schema. We prove that BonXai and XML Schema can be converted back-and-forth on the level of tree languages and we formally study the size trade-offs between the two languages.