Declaring Attributes

Declaring Attributes

An attribute declaration has the following syntax:

<!ATTLIST element-name attribute-name attribute-type default-value>

DTD example:

<!ATTLIST payment type CDATA "check">

XML example:

<payment type="check" />

The attribute-type can be one of the following:

Type	Description
CDATA	The value is character data
(en1|en2|..)	The value must be one from an enumerated list
ID	The value is a unique id
IDREF	The value is the id of another element
IDREFS	The value is a list of other ids
NMTOKEN	The value is a valid XML name
NMTOKENS	The value is a list of valid XML names
ENTITY	The value is an entity
ENTITIES	The value is a list of entities
NOTATION	The value is a name of a notation
xml:	The value is a predefined xml value

The default-value can be one of the following:

Value	Explanation
value	The default value of the attribute
#REQUIRED	The attribute is required
#IMPLIED	The attribute is not required
#FIXED value	The attribute value is fixed