I’m trying to get derived complex types from a base type in an xsd

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Asked: May 14, 20262026-05-14T20:10:39+00:00 2026-05-14T20:10:39+00:00

I’m trying to get derived complex types from a base type in an xsd

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I’m trying to get derived complex types from a base type in an xsd schema.

it works well when I do this (inspired by this):

xml file:

     <person
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:type="Employee">
        <name>John</name>
        <height>59</height>
        <jobDescription>manager</jobDescription>
     </person>

xsd file:

     <xs:element name="person" type="Person"/>

         <xs:complexType name="Person" abstract="true">
         <xs:sequence>
            <xs:element name= "name" type="xs:string"/>
            <xs:element name= "height" type="xs:double" />
         </xs:sequence>
         </xs:complexType>

         <xs:complexType name="Employee">
         <xs:complexContent>
             <xs:extension base="Person">
                <xs:sequence>
                   <xs:element name="jobDescription" type="xs:string" />
                </xs:sequence>
              </xs:extension>
          </xs:complexContent>
         </xs:complexType>

However, if I want to have the person element inside, for example, a sequence of another complex type, it doesn’t work anymore:

xml:

    <staffRecord>
      <company>mycompany</company>
      <dpt>sales</dpt>
      <person
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:type="Employee">
        <name>John</name>
        <height>59</height>
        <jobDescription>manager</jobDescription>
      </person>
    </staffRecord>

xsd file:

<xs:element name="staffRecord">
    <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
        <xs:element name="company" type="xs:string"/>
        <xs:element name="dpt" type="xs:string"/>

        <xs:element name="person" type="Person"/>

            <xs:complexType name="Person" abstract="true">
             <xs:sequence>
                <xs:element name= "name" type="xs:string"/>
                <xs:element name= "height" type="xs:double" />
             </xs:sequence>
            </xs:complexType>

            <xs:complexType name="Employee">
             <xs:complexContent>
                <xs:extension base="Person">
                   <xs:sequence>
                      <xs:element name="jobDescription" type="xs:string" />
                   </xs:sequence>
                 </xs:extension>
             </xs:complexContent>
            </xs:complexType>


    </xs:sequence>
    </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

When validating the xml with that schema with xmllint (under linux), I get this error message then:

config.xsd:12: element complexType:
Schemas parser error : Element
‘{http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema}sequence’:
The content is not valid. Expected is
(annotation?, (element | group |
choice | sequence | any)*). WXS schema
config.xsd failed to compile

Any idea what is wrong ?

David