Message Sets: Compound element logical properties

The logical properties of a compound element include properties that specify the number of occurrences of the compound element.

Property Type Meaning
Name String Specify a name for the object when you create it.

Names can consist of alphanumeric characters, including the letters A through Z, a through z, and the digits 0 through 9.

They might also include the following punctuation characters;
  • - the hyphen
  • _ the underscore
  • . the period

Names can start only with a letter or the underscore character, and not with a number, hyphen, or period.

Names that begin with xml, or any variant of these characters (for example XmL), are reserved by the XML standards specification.

Further details of naming conventions and allowable characters can be found in the Extensible Markup Language (XML) specification that can be found on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web site.
Namespace Enumerated type Namespaces are a simple method for qualifying element and attribute names by associating them with namespaces identified by URI references.

If <no target namespace> is displayed, a namespace has not been set for this object.

If the property is inactive, the message set has not been configured to support namespaces.

Where the property is active, namespaces that are available for selection are displayed in the drop-down list.
Nillable Check box Select this option if you want the element to be able to be defined as null. A null value is distinct from being empty, when the element contains no data.
Abstract Check box Select this option if you do not want the element to appear in the message, but require one of the members of its substitution group to appear in its place.

Value

Property Type Meaning
Default Button and String This property provides the default value for an element or attribute.
XMLNSC domain
When parsing with validation enabled, default values are applied to missing attributes and empty elements as required by the XML Schema 1.0 specification. When writing, elements or attributes that are missing from the message tree are not automatically added to the output XML bit stream, even if they have default values. If missing elements or attributes are required, the message tree can be serialized and then re-parsed with validation enabled.
MRM (CWF and TDS physical formats)
When writing a fixed-length portion of a message (CWF or fixed-length TDS), if an attribute or element is missing from the message tree, the default value is inserted into the bit stream so that the message structure is preserved.
MRM (XML physical format)
No support for default values
Other domains
No support for default values.
Fixed Button and String This property provides the fixed value for an element or attribute.
XMLNSC domain
When parsing with validation enabled, if an attribute or element is present, the value is validated against the fixed value. If the values are not equal, a validation error is signalled. Also, when parsing with validation enabled, fixed values are applied to missing attributes and empty elements as required by the XML Schema 1.0 specification. When writing, elements or attributes that are missing from the message tree are not automatically added to the output XML bit stream, even if a fixed value has been specified. If missing elements or attributes are required, the message tree can be serialized and then re-parsed with validation enabled.
MRM (CWF and TDS physical formats)
When writing a fixed-length portion of a message (CWF or fixed-length TDS), if an attribute or element is missing from the message tree, the fixed value is inserted into the bit stream so that the message structure is preserved.
MRM (XML physical format)
No support for fixed values
Other domains
No support for fixed values.
Interpret Value As Enumerated type Specify if values stored within this object must be interpreted as having significance for the parser and, if so, the type of interpretation that must occur.

Select one of the following options:

  • None This value is the default value, and indicates that the element or attribute does not have a key value associated with it.
  • MessageSetIdentity. Specifies that the value of the element or attribute corresponds to the identifier, name, or alias (in that priority order) that is associated with the message set where all subsequent embedded messages that are descendents of the enclosing message are defined. This value remains in force unless a new element or attribute MessageSetIdentity field is encountered which resets the MessageSetIdentity value.
  • MessageIdentity. Specifies that the value of the element or attribute corresponds to the name or alias (in that priority order) that is associated with a message, and acts as an identifier for subsequent embedded messages which are the immediate children of the enclosing message. This identity applies until a new element or attribute MessageIdentity field is encountered at the same level in the tree. The embedded message can be defined in either the current message set, or in a message set identified by using a MessageSetIdentity.
Note: This property is applicable only when the type of the object is derived from xsd:string.

Occurrences

Property Type Meaning
Min Occurs Integer Specify the minimum number of times that the object can repeat. The default value is 1.

If the value is set to 0, the object is optional.

With the exception of Max Occurs being set to -1, if a value is set for Min Occurs, it must be less than or equal to the value in Max Occurs.
Max Occurs Integer Specify the maximum number of times that the object can repeat. The default value is 1.

If this property is not set, the object cannot occur more than once.

If this property is set to 0, it is interpreted as if the object does not exist in the message.

It can also be set to -1, to indicate that the limit is unbounded and there is no maximum to the number of occurrences.