I am in need of a case insensitive string enumeration type in my XML schema (.xsd) file. I can get case insensitive by doing the following.
<xs:simpleType name="setDigitalPointType">
<xs:restriction base="xs:string">
<xs:pattern value="[Oo][Nn]" />
<xs:pattern value="[Oo][Ff][Ff]" />
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
The only problem is that I get no enumeration values. I will not get the nice intellesense when using Visual Studio to write my XML. The following will give me enumerations but it is case sensitive.
<xs:simpleType name="setDigitalPointType">
<xs:restriction base="xs:string">
<xs:enumeration value="on" />
<xs:enumeration value="off" />
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
This will give me my enumerations but if I ever receive a value of "On", "ON", or "oN" it will fail verification.
I want enumeration of "on", "off" and allow entry of case insensitive versions.
IBM developerWorks has an article on how to use XSLT to perform the construction of the full set of enumeration alternatives in an automated fashion. It is presented as a workaround to the lack of case-insensitive enumerations.
If you want to both keep the case-insensitive validation, while still getting Intellisense in Visual Studio 2010, you can use a union:
<xs:simpleType name="setDigitalPointType">
<xs:union>
<xs:simpleType>
<xs:restriction base="xs:string">
<xs:enumeration value="on" />
<xs:enumeration value="off" />
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
<xs:simpleType>
<xs:restriction base="xs:string">
<xs:pattern value="[Oo][Nn]" />
<xs:pattern value="[Oo][Ff][Ff]" />
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:union>
</xs:simpleType>
This works because it exploits the fact that Visual Studio 2010 only processes the first simple type in a union when it builds it's Intellisense data. However when it validates a document, it processes both, which means "On" is still determined to be valid even though it isn't in the list of enumeration values.
Well, you could just list all the permutations as patterns :)