Should I use Elements or Attributes in XML? [duplicate]

by

Usage of attributes or elements is usually decided by the data you are trying to model.

For instance, if a certain entity is PART of the data, then it is advisable to make it an element. For example the name of the employee is an essential part of the employee data.

Now if you want to convey METADATA about data (something that provides additional information about the data) but is not really part of the data, then it is better to make it an attribute.
For instance, lets say each employee has a GUID needed for back end processing, then making it an attribute is better.(GUID is not something that conveys really useful information to someone looking at the xml, but might be necessary for other purposes)

There is no rule as such that says something should be an attribute or a element.

Its not necessary to AVOID attributes at all costs..Sometimes they are easier to model, than elements. It really depends on the data you are trying to represent.

More Related Contents:

  1. Is an xml attribute without a value, valid?
  2. Does any xml-based standard exist to define HTTP requests and responses as xml files?
  3. How to fix error: The markup in the document following the root element must be well-formed
  4. Does a valid XML file require an XML declaration?
  5. Are SVG parameters such as ‘xmlns’ and ‘version’ needed?
  6. Any tools to generate an XSD schema from an XML instance document? [closed]
  7. XPath select all elements between two specific elements
  8. javax.xml.bind.JAXBException Implementation of JAXB-API has not been found on module path or classpath
  9. Extraction of data from a simple XML file
  10. How to use XPath contains() here?
  11. Is writing self closing tags for elements not traditionally empty bad practice?
  12. How to properly assemble a valid xlsx file from its internal sub-components?
  13. How to restrict the value of an XML element using xsi:type in XSD?
  14. Meaning of –
  15. Convert a Nokogiri document to a Ruby Hash
  16. XML Schema (XSD) validation tool? [closed]
  17. processContents strict vs lax vs skip for xsd:any
  18. How to declare XPath namespaces in xmlstarlet?
  19. R: convert XML data to data frame
  20. What is the XPath to select a range of nodes?
  21. Incrementing and checking the counter variable in XSLT
  22. Date operations on xsl 1.0
  23. How to parse xml in Angular 2
  24. What is the difference between root node, root element and document element in XML?
  25. How to remove namespaces from XML using XSLT
  26. SVG Scaling Text to fit container
  27. How can I create XML from Perl?
  28. What is the difference between name() and local-name()?
  29. How to create xml from R objects, e.g., is there a ‘listToXml’ function?
  30. Powershell script to update XML file content

Leave a Comment