Using XML Schemas

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics SQL database in Microsoft Fabric

XML programming in SMO is limited to providing XML data types, XML namespaces, and simple indexing on XML data type columns.

Microsoft SQL Server provides native storage for XML document instances. XML schemas let you define complex XML data types, which can be used to validate XML documents to ensure data integrity. The XML schema is defined in the XmlSchemaCollection object.

Example

To use any code example that is provided, you will have to choose the programming environment, the programming template, and the programming language in which to create your application. For more information, see Create a Visual C# SMO Project in Visual Studio .NET.

Creating an XML Schema in Visual Basic

This code example shows how to create an XML schema by using the XmlSchemaCollection object. The Text property, which defines the XML schema collection, contains several double quotation marks. These are replaced by the chr(34) string.

'Connect to the local, default instance of SQL Server.
Dim srv As Server
srv = New Server()
'Reference the AdventureWorks2022 database.
Dim db As Database
db = srv.Databases("AdventureWorks2022")
'Define an XmlSchemaCollection object by supplying the parent database and name arguments in the constructor.
Dim xsc As XmlSchemaCollection
xsc = New XmlSchemaCollection(db, "MySampleCollection")
xsc.Text = "\<schema xmlns=" + Chr(34) + "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" + Chr(34) + "  xmlns:ns=" + Chr(34) + "http://ns" + Chr(34) + ">\<element name=" + Chr(34) + "e" + Chr(34) + " type=" + Chr(34) + "dateTime" + Chr(34) + "/></schema>"
'Create the XML schema collection on the instance of SQL Server.
xsc.Create()

Creating an XML Schema in Visual C#

This code example shows how to create an XML schema by using the XmlSchemaCollection object. The Text property, which defines the XML schema collection, contains several double quotation marks. These are replaced by the chr(34) string.

{  
            //Connect to the local, default instance of SQL Server.   
            Server srv = default(Server);  
            srv = new Server();  
            //Reference the AdventureWorks2022 database.   
            Database db = default(Database);  
            db = srv.Databases["AdventureWorks2022"];  
            //Define an XmlSchemaCollection object by supplying the parent  
            // database and name arguments in the constructor.   
            XmlSchemaCollection xsc = default(XmlSchemaCollection);  
            xsc = new XmlSchemaCollection(db, "MySampleCollection");  
            xsc.Text = "\<schema xmlns=" + Strings.Chr(34) + "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" + Strings.Chr(34) + " xmlns:ns=" + Strings.Chr(34) + "http://ns" + Strings.Chr(34) + ">\<element name=" + Strings.Chr(34) + "e" + Strings.Chr(34) + " type=" + Strings.Chr(34) + "dateTime" + Strings.Chr(34) + "/></schema>";  
            //Create the XML schema collection on the instance of SQL Server.   
            xsc.Create();  
        }  

Creating an XML Schema in PowerShell

This code example shows how to create an XML schema by using the XmlSchemaCollection object. The Text property, which defines the XML schema collection, contains several double quotation marks. These are replaced by the chr(34) string.

#Get a server object which corresponds to the default instance replace LocalMachine with the physical server  
cd \sql\LocalHost  
$srv = get-item default  
  
#Reference the AdventureWorks database.  
$db = $srv.Databases["AdventureWorks2022"]  
  
#Create a new schema collection  
$xsc = New-Object -TypeName Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.SMO.XmlSchemaCollection `  
-argumentlist $db,"MySampleCollection"  
  
#Add the xml  
$dq = '"' # the double quote character  
$xsc.Text = "<schema xmlns=" + $dq + "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" + $dq + `  
"  xmlns:ns=" + $dq + "http://ns" + $dq + "><element name=" + $dq + "e" + $dq +`  
 " type=" + $dq + "dateTime" + $dq + "/></schema>"  
  
#Create the XML schema collection on the instance of SQL Server.  
$xsc.Create()