XML(9) Anatomy of DTD

W3 schools reference and tutorial

<!DOCTYPE NEWSPAPER [

<!ELEMENT NEWSPAPER (ARTICLE+)>
<!ELEMENT ARTICLE (HEADLINE,BYLINE,LEAD,BODY,NOTES)>
<!ELEMENT HEADLINE (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT BYLINE (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT LEAD (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT BODY (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT NOTES (#PCDATA)> 

<!ATTLIST ARTICLE AUTHOR CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST ARTICLE EDITOR CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST ARTICLE DATE CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST ARTICLE EDITION CDATA #IMPLIED>

]>

DTDs consist of three basic parts:

Element declarations

Attribute declarations

Entity declarations

Sequence

sequence must declare at the exact order:

<!ELEMENT contact (name, location, phone, knows, description)>

|  or operator:

<!ELEMENT location (address | GPS)>

Combination of both:

<!ELEMENT location (address | (latitude, longitude))>

Mixed Content with #PCDATA

text only:

<!ELEMENT first (#PCDATA)>

DTD allow mixed tags with #PCDATA

REMEMBER: when #PCDATA is mixed with other tags, then #PCDATA must be write first and follow the following format

<!ELEMENT description (#PCDATA | em | strong | br)*>

The * character is known as a cardinality indicator

If there are child elements, the * cardinality indicator must appear at the end  of the model

Cadinality

By default, elements used in the content model appear exactly once.

? the element may appear either once or not at all

+  more than once

*  zero or more

example:

<!ELEMENT name (first+, middle?, last)>

<!ELEMENT contacts (contact*)>

<!ELEMENT location (address* | (latitude, longitude))>

Empty Content

<!ELEMENT br EMPTY>

Any Content

this is not very popular

<!ELEMENT description ANY>

Attribute Declaration

Favor element to attribute.

An ATTLIST declaration consists of 

• The ATTLIST keyword
• The associated element's name
• The list of declared attributes

example:
<!ELEMENT contacts (contact*)>
<!ATTLIST contacts source CDATA #IMPLIED>

ATTLIST type:

Type	Description
CDATA	The value is character data
(en1|en2|..)	The value must be one from an enumerated list
ID	The value is a unique id, the value must be #IMPLIED or #REQUIRE
IDREF	The value is the id of another element
IDREFS	The value is a list of other ids
NMTOKEN	The value is a valid XML name
NMTOKENS	The value is a list of valid XML names
ENTITY	The value is an entity
ENTITIES	The value is a list of entities
NOTATION	The value is a name of a notation
xml:	The value is a predefined xml value

The value can be one of the following

Value	Explanation
value	The default value of the attribute
#REQUIRED	The attribute is required
#IMPLIED	The attribute is not required
#FIXED value	The attribute value is fixed

Entity

Entities are variables used to define shortcuts to standard text or special characters.

An entity has three parts: an ampersand (&), an entity name, and a semicolon (;).

Syntax:

internal entity

<!ENTITY entity-name "entity-value">

external entity

<!ENTITY entity-name SYSTEM "URI/URL">

DTD Example:

<!ENTITY writer "Donald Duck.">
<!ENTITY copyright "Copyright W3Schools.">

XML example:

<author>&writer;©right;</author>

ID, IDREF and IDREFS

ID The value is a unique id
IDREF The value is the id of another element
IDREFS The value is a list of other ids, separated by SPACE

<!ATTLIST Course Prerequisites IDREFS #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST Professor InstrID ID #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST Lecturer InstrID ID #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST Courseref Number IDREF #REQUIRED>