How to get the default value set by the xml schema?

Question

I've got an xml schema which specifies a default value for an optional field...

<xs:element name="expiry" type="xs:positiveInteger" default="86400"/>

I'm using lxml to parse the incoming xml...

root = lxml.etree.XML(xml)

When I go looking for the optional element, and it's not there, I get a 'None' result...

expiry = root.findtext('expiry')

How would I get the expiry value to default to the schema's default (86400)?

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 17 '11 at 04:24

1

Can't be done by 'magic'. The long way is the only way (today).

That is: read the xmlschema like an xml document, find the element tag with the attribute "expiry", look for the value of the attribute "default" in that tag.

answered Jun 17 '11 at 04:24

John Mee

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What is the best way to find the XSD element, that corresponds to the XML node? – Gill Bates Nov 17 '16 at 18:53
@GillBates In the schema document, find the xs:element which has a name attribute matching your xml node. – John Mee Nov 17 '16 at 21:52
you can get multiple results like that - how to determine which one is correct? – Gill Bates Nov 18 '16 at 09:26

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 08 '11 at 09:36

0

First, you need to include you schema, using lxml.etree.XMLSchema

I think it only does validation, but you may want to try to parse your XML together with the schema and see if the "default" value appears.

answered Jun 08 '11 at 09:36

njzk2

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How to get the default value set by the xml schema?

2 Answers2