Validation Using a DTD with XmlReader

Document type definition (DTD) validation is implemented using the validity constraints defined in the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 Recommendation. DTDs use a formal grammar to describe the structure and syntax of compliant XML documents; they specify content and values allowed for the XML document.

To perform validation against a DTD, the XmlReader uses the DTD defined in the DOCTYPE declaration of an XML document. The DOCTYPE declaration can either point to an inline DTD or can be a reference to an external DTD file.

• Set the XmlReaderSettings.DtdProcessing property to DtdProcessing.Parse.

• Set the XmlReaderSettings.ValidationType property to ValidationType.DTD.

• If the DTD is an external file stored on a network resource that requires authentication, pass an XmlResolver object with the necessary credentials to the Create method.

Example

The following example validates an XML file using a DTD file.

Imports System
Imports System.Xml
Imports System.Xml.Schema
Imports System.IO

public class Sample 

  public shared sub Main() 

    ' Set the validation settings.
    Dim settings as XmlReaderSettings = new XmlReaderSettings()
    settings.DtdProcessing = DtdProcessing.Parse
    settings.ValidationType = ValidationType.DTD
    AddHandler settings.ValidationEventHandler, AddressOf ValidationCallBack

    ' Create the XmlReader object.
    Dim reader as XmlReader = XmlReader.Create("itemDTD.xml", settings)

    ' Parse the file. 
    while reader.Read()
    end while

  end sub

  ' Display any validation errors.
  private shared sub ValidationCallBack(sender as object, e as ValidationEventArgs) 
    Console.WriteLine("Validation Error: {0}", e.Message)
  end sub
end class

using System;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Schema;
using System.IO;

public class Sample {

  public static void Main() {

    // Set the validation settings.
    XmlReaderSettings settings = new XmlReaderSettings();
    settings.DtdProcessing = DtdProcessing.Parse;
    settings.ValidationType = ValidationType.DTD;
    settings.ValidationEventHandler += new ValidationEventHandler (ValidationCallBack);

    // Create the XmlReader object.
    XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create("itemDTD.xml", settings);


    // Parse the file. 
    while (reader.Read());

  }

  // Display any validation errors.
  private static void ValidationCallBack(object sender, ValidationEventArgs e) {
    Console.WriteLine("Validation Error: {0}", e.Message);
  }
}

#using <System.Xml.dll>

using namespace System;
using namespace System::Xml;
using namespace System::Xml::Schema;
using namespace System::IO;

// Display any validation errors.
static void ValidationCallBack( Object^ /*sender*/, ValidationEventArgs^ e )
{
   Console::WriteLine( L"Validation Error: {0}", e->Message );
}

int main()
{
   // Set the validation settings.
   XmlReaderSettings^ settings = gcnew XmlReaderSettings;
   settings->DtdProcessing = DtdProcessing::Parse;
   settings->ValidationType = ValidationType::DTD;
   settings->ValidationEventHandler += gcnew ValidationEventHandler( ValidationCallBack );

   // Create the XmlReader object.
   XmlReader^ reader = XmlReader::Create( L"itemDTD.xml", settings );

   // Parse the file. 
   while ( reader->Read() )
      ;

   return 1;
}

Input

The example uses the itemDTD.xml file as input.

<!--XML file using a DTD-->
<!DOCTYPE store [
  <!ELEMENT store (item)*> 
  <!ELEMENT item (name,dept,price)>
  <!ATTLIST item type CDATA #REQUIRED>
  <!ELEMENT name (#PCDATA)>
  <!ELEMENT price (#PCDATA)>]>
<store>
  <item type="supplies"  ISBN="2-3631-4">
    <name>paint</name>
    <price>16.95</price>
  </item>
</store>

See Also

Concepts

Reading XML with the XmlReader

Other Resources

Validating XML Data with XmlReader