An XML Catalog entry contains two parts - a Key (which represents
a DTD or XML schema) and a Location (similar to a URI, which contains information
about a DTD or XML schema's location). You can place the Key in an XML file.
When the XML processor encounters it, it will use the XML Catalog entry to
find the location of the DTD or XML schema associated with the Key
XML Catalog entries can be used in various situations. For example,
you are working on an XML file on your main desktop computer and point its schemaLocation towards
a schema called c:\MySchema.xsd. You then save it to your
laptop computer so you can work on it later. When you open the file on your
laptop, however, you encounter a problem - the XML editor cannot find the MySchema.xsd schema
because it is actually installed on your D drive. You will have to edit the schemaLocation to
point to d:\MySchema.xsd. When you have finished editing
the XML file and are ready to publish it on the Web, you will need to edit
the URI again so that it points to a resource that is accessible on the Web.
By now, the problem is obvious. A URI used within an XML file is not as portable
as you would like it to be. To avoid making frequent changes to your XML document,
you can use the XML Catalog.
An XML Catalog entry is used by an XML
processor when resolving entity references. You can provide rules to the catalog
to specify how entities should be resolved. If you consider the preceding
example, you could specify a rule that redirects an Internet resource reference
(for example, "https://www.ibm.com/published-schemas/MySchema.xsd")
so that it points to a resource on the developer's local machine (for example,
"file:///C:/MySchema.xsd"). Now, instead of frequently editing
XML documents to update the URIs or locations (especially when there are many
documents in your project), you only need to update a single rule in your
XML Catalog.
The following instructions were written for the Resource
perspective, but they will also work in many other perspectives.
To
add an entry to the XML Catalog, follow these steps:
-
Open the XML file that you want to associate with a DTD or XML
schema.
-
Click and select . The XML Catalog
Entries section contains a list of any user-defined and plug-in
defined catalog entries. Select any entry to see information about it in the Details section.
-
Click Add to create a new catalog entry.
-
In the Location field, enter or browse for
the location or URI of the DTD or XML schema file. This uses your computer's
path style to describe the location of the file.
-
Select a key type for the catalog entry from the Key
Type drop down. The values in this list will change
depending on the type of file you specified in the Location field:
- If you specified a DTD: select Public ID, System
ID, or URI from the Key Type field.
If you select Public ID, the value you enter in the Key field
should be the same as the Public ID in the XML file's DOCTYPE declaration.
If you select System ID, the value you enter should
correspond to the System ID in an XML file's DOCTYPE declaration. If you select URI,
the value you enter must be a fully qualified URI.
- If you specified an XML schema: select either Namespace Name or
Schema Location from the Key Type field.
If the schema defines a target namespace, it will automatically appear in
the Key field. Otherwise, you can enter the schema
location in the Key field.
-
Select the Specify alternative Web address check
box if you want to be able to specify an alternate Web address for the resource.
This Web address is used when an XML instance is generated from this
catalog entry.
Note: This option is only available if you select Public
ID (for a DTD) or Namespace Name (for
a schema) in the Key type field.
-
If you want to refer to another catalog without importing it into
the workbench, click Next Catalog. Type or browse for
the XML catalog you want to refer to.
-
When you are done creating catalog entries, click OK to
close the Add XML Catalog Entry dialog. Click OK again
to save your settings.
-
Make sure the XML file is in focus and click the Reload
dependencies toolbar button.
The XML file is now associated with the latest version of the XML
schema or DTD.
You can also export and import XML Catalog information:
To
export, click File > Export and select XML
> XML Catalog. You will be prompted to select a project and provide
a file name to store your catalog entries in an .xmlcatalog file, which can
be opened from the Navigator view. Since your catalog entries are stored in
an .xmlcatalog file, you can check them in and out and share them like any
other project resource.
To import, click File > Import and
select XML > XML Catalog. Then specify the file that
will be used to load the XML Catalog settings. When you import a .xmlcatalog
file, any entries in it will be loaded into the XML Catalog (and any existing
entries will be overwritten).
