Streaming validation of XML documents

• US 7,992,081 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2006
• Issued: 08/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Rabinov, Arkady, Sedlar, Eric, Murthy, Ravi, Agarwal, Nipun, Medi, Vijay
• Primary Examiner(s): Ries; Laurie
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mills; Frank D
• Application Number:
  US11/407,508
• Publication Number:
  US 20070250766A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,931 Days
• Field of Search: 715/237
• US Class Current: 715/237
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/149 Adaptation of the text data for streaming purposes, e.g. Efficient XML Interchange [EXI] format
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/221 Parsing markup language streams streaming G06F40/149
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/226 Validation

Abstract

A method and apparatus for streaming validation of XML documents is provided. A particular event of a series of events is received. The series of events is generated as an XML document is parsed by a parser, and the received particular event indicates that the parser has encountered a particular part of the XML document. The particular part of the XML document indicated by the particular event is then received. A current validation state for the XML document is determined. The current validation state, which is one of a plurality of validation states for the XML document, indicates a validation type associated with the particular part of the XML document. Based on at least the current validation state, the particular part of the XML document is validated against an XML schema that defines the structure of the XML document.

Claims

1. A method for streaming validation of eXtensible Markup Language (XML) documents, the method comprising the steps of:

initializing a stack configured for storing stack-elements;

storing at least one stack-element on top of the stack, wherein the at least one stack-element indicates at least a validation state, relative to an XML schema that defines the structure of an XML document, for the XML document;

receiving a particular event of a series of events which is generated as the XML document is parsed by a parser, wherein the particular event indicates that the parser has encountered a particular part of the XML document;

receiving the particular part of the XML document from the parser;

determining a current validation state for the XML document relative to the XML schema, wherein determining the current validation state for the XML document comprises;

retrieving information that is stored in a current stack-element that is on top of the stack of stack elements; and

based on the retrieved information, performing the steps of;

determining that the particular part of the XML document is a content particle;

determining a particular content particle type that corresponds to the content particle;

based at least on the particular content particle type that corresponds to the content particle, validating the particular part of the XML document against the XML schema;

wherein the steps of the method are performed by one or more computer systems.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of validating the particular part of the XML document comprises maintaining the stack of stack-elements, wherein the stack-elements indicate schema components of the XML schema against which parts of the XML document are validated.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

before receiving the particular event, receiving a start-element event of the series of events, wherein;

the start-element event indicates that that the parser has encountered an XML element of the XML document; and

the particular part of the XML document is a sub-element of the XML element;

wherein the step of maintaining the stack of stack-elements comprises;

generating one or more stack-elements, wherein the one or more stack-elements indicate one or more schema components that are associated with the XML element; and

storing the one or more stack-elements on the stack, wherein the one or more stack-elements include the current stack-element that is on top of the stack.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving an end-element event of the series of events, wherein the end-element event indicates that the parser has completed parsing the XML element;

wherein the step of maintaining the stack of stack-elements comprises removing the one or more stack-elements from the stack in response to receiving the end-element event.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second particular part, of the XML document, that is an XML element;

wherein receiving the second particular part of the XML document comprises receiving a content of the XML element; and

based on a stack-element that is currently on top of the stack, determining that the XML element is associated with a simple XML type, wherein the stack-element includes at least one value referencing at least one schema component, of the XML schema, that includes a definition of the XML element; and

validating the XML element by checking the content of the XML element to determine whether the content conforms to the definition of the XML element.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second particular part, of the XML document, that is an XML element; and

based on a stack-element that is currently on top of the stack, determining that the XML element is associated with a complex XML type.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the stack-element that is currently on top of the stack includes at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element which indicates that the XML element includes content having a simple XML type;

the step of receiving the second particular part of the XML document comprises receiving the content of the XML element; and

the method further comprises the step of validating the second particular part of the XML document by checking the content of the XML element to determine whether the content conforms to the definition of the XML element.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the stack-element that is currently on top of the stack includes at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element which indicates that the XML element includes a set of attributes;

the step of receiving the second particular part of the XML document comprises receiving one or more attributes that are included in the XML element; and

the method further comprises the step of validating the second particular part of the XML document by checking the one or more attributes to determine whether the one or more attributes conform to the definition of the XML element.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the one or more attributes include a specific attribute that overrides the complex XML type of the XML element with a different XML type; and

the step of validating the second particular part of the XML document further comprises at least one of;

modifying the information stored in the stack-element that is currently on top of the stack to indicate a different validation state that reflects the different XML type; and

modifying the stack-element that is currently on top of the stack to include one or more different values that reference one or more different schema components of the XML schema, wherein the one or more different schema components include a different definition of the XML element which indicates that the XML element is associated with the different XML type.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the stack-element that is currently on top of the stack includes at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element which indicates that the XML element includes a set of content particles;

the step of receiving the second particular part of the XML document comprises receiving one or more content particles that are included in the XML element; and

the method further comprises the step of validating the second particular part of the XML document by validating the one or more content particles against the definition of the XML element.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of validating the second particular part of the XML document further comprises:

generating one or more stack-elements, wherein the one or more stack-elements include one or more values referencing one or more schema components that include a particular definition of a particular content particle of the one or more content particles;

storing the one or more stack-elements on the stack; and

removing the one or more stack-elements from the stack when validation of the particular content particle is completed.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the current validation state indicates that the particular part of the XML document is an XML element, wherein the XML element is an element particle included in a parent XML element;

the current stack-element includes;

an occurrence count indicating the number of already validated XML elements that are the same element particles of the parent XML element as the XML element; and

at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element;

the step of receiving the particular part of the XML document comprises receiving the XML element; and

the step of validating the particular part of the XML document further comprises validating the XML element against the definition of the XML element, wherein validating the XML element includes;

if the XML element conforms to the definition, then incrementing the occurrence count; and

if the XML element does not conform to the definition, then removing the current stack-element from the stack.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the current validation state indicates that the particular part of the XML document is an XML element, wherein the XML element is a choice particle included in a parent XML element;

the current stack-element includes;

a reference to a list of entries, wherein each entry represents a sub-element included in the XML element;

an occurrence count indicating the number of already validated XML elements that are the same choice particles of the parent XML element as the XML element; and

at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element;

the step of receiving the particular part of the XML document comprises receiving at least one sub-element included in the XML element; and

the step of validating the particular part of the XML document further comprises validating the XML element against the definition of the XML element, wherein validating the XML element includes at least one of;

for at least one sub-element included in the XML element, creating an entry representing that sub-element and inserting that entry in the list of entries;

for each entry in the list of entries, validating at least one sub-element included in the XML element, wherein if one sub-element conforms to the definition of the XML element, then the occurrence count is incremented; and

after processing all sub-elements included in the XML element, removing the current stack-element from the stack.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the current validation state indicates that the particular part of the XML document is an XML element, wherein the XML element is a sequence particle included in a parent XML element;

the current stack-element includes;

a reference to a list of entries, wherein each entry represents a sub-element included in the XML element;

an occurrence count indicating the number of already validated XML elements that are the same sequence particles of the parent XML element as the XML element; and

at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element;

the step of receiving the particular part of the XML document comprises receiving all sub-elements included in the XML element; and

the step of validating the particular part of the XML document further comprises validating the XML element against the definition of the XML element, wherein validating the XML element includes;

for each sub-element included in the XML element, creating an entry representing that sub-element and inserting that entry in the list of entries;

based on the list of entries, validating each sub-element included in the XML element, wherein if all sub-elements conform to the definition of the XML element, then the occurrence count is incremented; and

after processing all sub-elements included in the XML element, removing the current stack-element from the stack.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the current validation state indicates that the particular part of the XML document is an XML element, wherein the XML element is a validate-all particle included in a parent XML element;

the current stack-element includes;

a reference to a list of entries, wherein each entry represents a sub-element included in the XML element;

an occurrence count indicating the number of already validated XML elements that are the same validate-all particles of the parent XML element as the XML element; and

at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element;

the step of receiving the particular part of the XML document comprises receiving each sub-element included in the XML element; and

the step of validating the particular part of the XML document further comprises validating the XML element against the definition of the XML element, wherein validating the XML element includes;

for each sub-element included in the XML element, creating an entry representing that sub-element and inserting that entry in the list of entries;

looping through each entry in the list of entries and validating each sub-element represented by that entry; and

after validating all sub-elements included in the XML element, removing the current stack-element from the stack.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the current validation state indicates that the particular part of the XML document is an XML element, wherein the XML element is a group particle of the included in a parent XML element;

the current stack-element includes;

a reference to a list of entries, wherein each entry represents a sub-element included in the XML element;

an occurrence count indicating the number of already validated XML elements that are the same group particles of the parent XML element as the XML element; and

a value referencing a schema component of the XML schema, wherein the schema component includes a definition of the XML element;

the step of receiving the particular part of the XML document comprises receiving each sub-element included in the XML element; and

the step of validating the particular part of the XML document further comprises validating the XML element against the definition of the XML element, wherein validating the XML element includes;

for each sub-element included in the XML element, creating an entry representing that sub-element and inserting that entry in the list of entries;

based on the value referencing the schema component included in the current stack-element, determining one or more schema components of the XML schema, wherein the one or more schema components include definitions for each sub-element of the XML element;

looping through each entry in the list of entries and validating each sub-element represented by that entry against a corresponding definition for that sub-element included in the one or more schema components; and

after validating all sub-elements included in the XML element, removing the current stack-element from the stack.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the current validation state indicates that the particular part of the XML document is an XML element, wherein the XML element is a validate-any particle included in a parent XML element;

the current stack-element includes;

an occurrence count indicating the number of already validated XML elements that are validate-any particles of the parent XML element; and

at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element;

the step of receiving the particular part of the XML document comprises receiving the XML element; and

the step of validating the particular part of the XML document further comprises validating the XML element against the definition of the XML element, wherein validating the XML element includes;

determining a namespace definition for the XML element based on the definition of the XML element included in the at least one schema component;

if the XML element conforms to the namespace definition, then incrementing the occurrence count; and

removing the current stack-element from the stack.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular event indicates that the parser has encountered an XML element that is associated with a validation type which is one of a simple XML type, a complex XML type, and a content particle type.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the particular event, the step of receiving the particular part of the XML document, the step of determining the current validation state, and the step of validating the particular part of the XML document are performed by a streaming validator implemented as part of a database server.

20. A computer system for streaming validation of eXtensible Markup Language (XML) documents, comprising:

one or more processors;

a machine-readable storage medium configured for storing a stack of stack-elements, wherein the stack-elements indicate validation states for an XML document being validated and indicate schema components of an XML schema, wherein the XML schema defines the structure of the XML document; and

one or more stored sequences of instructions which, when performed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to execute a validation driver that is operatively connected to the stack, wherein the validation driver is configured to;

initialize the stack;

store at least one stack-element on top of the stack, wherein the at least one stack-element indicates at least one validation state for the XML document;

receive, from a parser, a series of events which is generated as the XML document is parsed by the parser, wherein the series of events includes at least one event which indicates that the parser has encountered at least one part of the XML document; and

for a particular part of the XML document;

receive the particular part of the XML document from the parser;

determine a current validation state for the XML document relative to the XML schema, wherein to determine the current validation state for the XML document the validation driver is configured to;

retrieve information that is stored in a current stack-element that is on top of the stack; and

based on the information, determine that the particular part of the XML document is a content particle and determine a particular content particle type that corresponds to the content particle;

validate the particular part of the XML document against the XML schema based at least on the particular content particle type that corresponds to the content particle.

21. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the one or more stored sequences of instructions further comprise instructions which, when performed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to execute:

a simple type validator, wherein the simple type validator is operatively connected to the stack and is configured to validate XML elements associated with a simple XML type;

a complex type validator, wherein the complex type validator is operatively connected to the stack and is configured to validate XML elements associated with a complex XML type; and

a content particle validator, wherein the content particle validator is operatively connected to the stack and is configured to validate XML elements associated with a content particle type;

wherein, for each of said at least one part of the XML document, the validation driver is configured to;

determine a validation type of said at least one part based on a validation state that is indicated in a stack-element that is currently on top of the stack; and

based on the validation type, dispatch said at least one part for validation to one of the simple type validator, the complex type validator, and the content particle validator.

22. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the validation driver is further configured to:

receive a request from an application to validate the XML document;

generate a validation result that indicates whether the XML document was validated successfully based on the validation of the at least one part of the XML document; and

send the validation result to the application.

23. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the validation driver is configured to transmit the series of events received from the parser to an event consumer, wherein for each of said at least one part of the XML document, the validation driver is configured to:

generate a validation result that indicates whether said at least one part of the XML document was validated successfully; and

augment a specific event of the series of events to include the validation result, wherein the specific event indicates that the parser has completed parsing said at least one part.

24. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions for streaming validation of eXtensible Markup Language (XML) documents, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform steps comprising:

initializing a stack configured for storing stack-elements;

storing at least one stack-element on top of the stack, wherein the at least one stack-element indicates at least a validation state, relative to an XML schema that defines the structure of an XML document, for the XML document;

receiving a particular event of a series of events which is generated as the XML document is parsed by a parser, wherein the particular event indicates that the parser has encountered a particular part of the XML document;

receiving the particular part of the XML document from the parser;

determining a current validation state for the XML document relative to the XML schema, wherein determining the current validation state for the XML document comprises;

retrieving information that is stored in a current stack-element that is on top of the stack of stack elements; and

based on the retrieved information, performing the steps of;

determining that the particular part of the XML document is a content particle;

determining a particular content particle type that corresponds to the content particle;

based at least on the particular content particle type that corresponds to the content particle, validating the particular part of the XML document against the XML schema.

25. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the instructions that cause validating the particular part of the XML document comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform maintaining the stack of stack-elements, wherein the stack-elements indicate schema components of the XML schema against which parts of the XML document are validated.

26. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:

before receiving the particular event, receiving a start-element event of the series of events, wherein;

the start-element event indicates that that the parser has encountered an XML element of the XML document; and

the particular part of the XML document is a sub-element of the XML element;

wherein the instructions that cause maintaining the stack of stack-elements comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform;

generating one or more stack-elements, wherein the one or more stack-elements indicate one or more schema components that are associated with the XML element; and

storing the one or more stack-elements on the stack, wherein the one or more stack-elements include the current stack-element that is on top of the stack.

27. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:

receiving an end-element event of the series of events, wherein the end-element event indicates that the parser has completed parsing the XML element;

wherein the instructions that cause maintaining the stack of stack-elements further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform removing the one or more stack-elements from the stack in response to receiving the end-element event.

28. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:

receiving a second particular part, of the XML document, that is an XML element;

wherein the instructions that cause receiving the second particular part of the XML document comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform receiving a content of the XML element;

based on a stack element that is currently on top of the stack, determining that the XML element is associated with a simple XML type, wherein the stack-element includes at least one value referencing at least one schema component, of the XML schema, that includes a definition of the XML element; and

validating the XML element by checking the content of the XML element to determine whether the content conforms to the definition of the XML element.

29. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:

receiving a second particular part, of the XML document, that is an XML element; and

based on a stack-element that is currently on top of the stack, determining that the XML element is associated with a complex XML type.

30. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein:

the stack-element that is currently on top of the stack includes at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element which indicates that the XML element includes content having a simple XML type;

the instructions that cause receiving the second particular part of the XML document comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform receiving the content of the XML element; and

the one or more sequences of instructions further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform validating the second particular part of the XML document by checking the content of the XML element to determine whether the content conforms to the definition of the XML element.

31. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein:

the stack-element that is currently on top of the stack includes at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element which indicates that the XML element includes a set of attributes;

the instructions that cause receiving the second particular part of the XML document comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform receiving one or more attributes that are included in the XML element; and

the one or more sequences of instructions further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform validating the second particular part of the XML document by checking the one or more attributes to determine whether the one or more attributes conform to the definition of the XML element.

32. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 31, wherein:

the one or more attributes include a specific attribute that overrides the complex XML type of the XML element with a different XML type; and

the instructions that cause validating the second particular part of the XML document further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform at least one of;

modifying the information stored in the stack-element that is currently on top of the stack to indicate a different validation state that reflects the different XML type; and

modifying the stack-element that is currently on top of the stack to include one or more different values that reference one or more different schema components of the XML schema, wherein the one or more different schema components include a different definition of the XML element which indicates that the XML element is associated with the different XML type.

33. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein:

the stack-element that is currently on top of the stack includes at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element which indicates that the XML element includes a set of content particles;

the instructions that cause receiving the second particular part of the XML document comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform receiving one or more content particles that are included in the XML element; and

the one or more sequences of instructions further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform validating the second particular part of the XML document by validating the one or more content particles against the definition of the XML element.

34. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 33, wherein the instructions that cause validating the second particular part of the XML document further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:

generating one or more stack-elements, wherein the one or more stack-elements include one or more values referencing one or more schema components that include a particular definition of a particular content particle of the one or more content particles;

storing the one or more stack-elements on the stack; and

removing the one or more stack-elements from the stack when validation of the particular content particle is completed.

35. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein:

the current validation state indicates that the particular part of the XML document is an XML element, wherein the XML element is an element particle included in a parent XML element;

the current stack-element includes;

an occurrence count indicating the number of already validated XML elements that are the same element particles of the parent XML element as the XML element; and

at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element;

the instructions that cause receiving the particular part of the XML document comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform receiving the XML element; and

the instructions that cause validating the particular part of the XML document further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform validating the XML element against the definition of the XML element, wherein validating the XML element includes;

if the XML element conforms to the definition, then incrementing the occurrence count; and

if the XML element does not conform to the definition, then removing the current stack-element from the stack.

36. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein:

the current validation state indicates that the particular part of the XML document is an XML element, wherein the XML element is a choice particle included in a parent XML element;

the current stack-element includes;

a reference to a list of entries, wherein each entry represents a sub-element included in the XML element;

an occurrence count indicating the number of already validated XML elements that are the same choice particles of the parent XML element as the XML element; and

at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element;

the instructions that cause receiving the particular part of the XML document comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform receiving at least one sub-element included in the XML element; and

the instructions that cause validating the particular part of the XML document further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform validating the XML element against the definition of the XML element, wherein validating the XML element includes at least one of;

for at least one sub-element included in the XML element, creating an entry representing that sub-element and inserting that entry in the list of entries;

for each entry in the list of entries, validating at least one sub-element included in the XML element, wherein if one sub-element conforms to the definition of the XML element, then the occurrence count is incremented; and

after processing all sub-elements included in the XML element, removing the current stack-element from the stack.

37. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein:

the current validation state indicates that the particular part of the XML document is an XML element, wherein the XML element is a sequence particle included in a parent XML element;

the current stack-element includes;

a reference to a list of entries, wherein each entry represents a sub-element included in the XML element;

an occurrence count indicating the number of already validated XML elements that are the same sequence particles of the parent XML element as the XML element; and

at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element;

the instructions that cause receiving the particular part of the XML document comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform receiving all sub-elements included in the XML element; and

the instructions that cause validating the particular part of the XML document further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform validating the XML element against the definition of the XML element, wherein validating the XML element includes;

for each sub-element included in the XML element, creating an entry representing that sub-element and inserting that entry in the list of entries;

based on the list of entries, validating each sub-element included in the XML element, wherein if all sub-elements conform to the definition of the XML element, then the occurrence count is incremented; and

after processing all sub-elements included in the XML element, removing the current stack-element from the stack.

38. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein:

the current validation state indicates that the particular part of the XML document is an XML element, wherein the XML element is a validate-all particle included in a parent XML element;

the current stack-element includes;

a reference to a list of entries, wherein each entry represents a sub-element included in the XML element;

an occurrence count indicating the number of already validated XML elements that are the same validate-all particles of the parent XML element as the XML element; and

at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element;

the instructions that cause receiving the particular part of the XML document comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform receiving each sub-element included in the XML element; and

the instructions that cause validating the particular part of the XML document further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform validating the XML element against the definition of the XML element, wherein validating the XML element includes;

for each sub-element included in the XML element, creating an entry representing that sub-element and inserting that entry in the list of entries;

looping through each entry in the list of entries and validating each sub-element represented by that entry; and

after validating all sub-elements included in the XML element, removing the current stack-element from the stack.

39. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein:

the current validation state indicates that the particular part of the XML document is an XML element, wherein the XML element is a group particle included in a parent XML element;

the current stack-element includes;

a reference to a list of entries, wherein each entry represents a sub-element included in the XML element;

an occurrence count indicating the number of already validated XML elements that are the same group particles of the parent XML element as the XML element; and

a value referencing a schema component of the XML schema, wherein the schema component includes a definition of the XML element;

the instructions that cause receiving the particular part of the XML document comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform receiving each sub-element included in the XML element; and

the instructions that cause validating the particular part of the XML document further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform validating the XML element against the definition of the XML element, wherein validating the XML element includes;

for each sub-element included in the XML element, creating an entry representing that sub-element and inserting that entry in the list of entries;

based on the value referencing the schema component included in the current stack-element, determining one or more schema components of the XML schema, wherein the one or more schema components include definitions for each sub-element of the XML element;

looping through each entry in the list of entries and validating each sub-element represented by that entry against a corresponding definition for that sub-element included in the one or more schema components; and

after validating all sub-elements included in the XML element, removing the current stack-element from the stack.

40. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein:

the current validation state indicates that the particular part of the XML document is an XML element, wherein the XML element is a validate-any particle included in a parent XML element;

the current stack-element includes;

an occurrence count indicating the number of already validated XML elements that are validate-any particles of the parent XML element; and

at least one value referencing at least one schema component of the XML schema, wherein the at least one schema component includes a definition of the XML element;

the instructions that cause receiving the particular part of the XML document comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform receiving the XML element; and

the instructions that cause validating the particular part of the XML document further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform validating the XML element against the definition of the XML element, wherein validating the XML element includes;

determining a namespace definition for the XML element based on the definition of the XML element included in the at least one schema component;

if the XML element conforms to the namespace definition, then incrementing the occurrence count; and

removing the current stack-element from the stack.

41. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the particular event indicates that the parser has encountered an XML element that is associated with a validation type which is one of a simple XML type, a complex XML type, and a content particle type.

42. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 24, further storing a set of instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to execute a database server, wherein:

the one or more sequences of instructions for streaming validation of the XML documents are configured as a streaming validator that is implemented as part of the database server; and

the one or more sequences of instructions for streaming validation of the XML documents are included in the set of instructions for executing the database server.