XML Schema Transformations - The ELaX Approach

In this article the transformation language ELaX (Evolution Language for XML-Schema) for modifying existing XML Schemas is introduced. This domain-specific language was developed to fulfill the crucial need to handle modifications on an XML Schema and to express such modifications formally. The language has a readable, simple, basemodel-oriented syntax, but it is able to also express more complex transformations by using add, delete and update operations. A small subset of operations of the whole language is presented and illustrated partially by dealing with a real life XML Schema of the WSWC (Western States Water Council). Finally, the idea of integrating an ELaX interface into an existing research prototype for dealing with the co-evolution of corresponding XML documents is presented.