Extending Tree Automata to Model XML Validation Under Element and Attribute Constraints

Algorithms for validation play a crucial role in the use of XML. Although much effort has been made for formalizing the treatment of elements, attributes have been neglected. This paper presents a validation model for XML documents that takes into account element and attribute constraints imposed by a given DTD. Our main contribution is the introduction of a new formalism to deal with both kinds of constraints. To this end we propose an extension of regular tree automata that allows the construction of a deterministic automaton having the same expression power as that of a DTD. Our formalism gives rise to an efficient validation method.