Best practice for handling XML schema hierarchies?

I have a number of tables with columns of xml datatype. Each of these columns are typed against a different XML schema collection. However, each of the XML schema collections contain a hierarchy of schema definitions - and the schemas towards the top of the hierarchy are used by a number of different XML schema collections. I want to define the schemas in such a way that if I need to change a schema towards the top of the hierarchy, I only need to change it in one place.

I understand that it is not possible to reference a schema in one collection from another - is my understanding correct? (If I am wrong, then please disregard the following)

If the schemas must be duplicated in each xml schema collection that needs them, then I am considering the following approach. Are there any better methods available?

- Create a 'reference' xml schema collection that contains all the schemas
- Create a table that relates a schema to all the collections that need it
- Write a stored proc that updates all the individual collections appropriately when the reference collection is updated

Using this method, I would anticipate updating the 'reference' schema and running the stored procedure at a quiet time

I could just use a single collection for everything - but although it would ensure that the contents of a column satisfied a schema - it wouldn't check that it satisfied the correct schema. I guess I could put separate validation on the column to ensure that the right contents had been added, but this seems to run counter to the whole idea of using the XML collections

Any thoughts?

You are correct that you cannot refer to schemas from other schema collections.

You approach of using a master schema collection sounds ok. Alternatively, you could use a special table that contains each one of the schemas in an XML datatype column. That way, you could even perform updates on the schemas programmatically, and you would preserve annotations and comments in the schema as an added bonus.

You then could still do the stored procs.

Note however, that you have to be careful with evolving your schemas in that they should only be gaining new elements and types. Otherwise the schema collection will disallow such updates since the cost of revalidation and potential validation failure of old data was too high for be done implicitly...

Best regards

Michael

|||Thanks Michael - will give it a go