Patent ID: 7200805

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a base schema defining one of more classes of elements that conform to a data description language; receiving a constraint template that defines requirements for instances of the elements without conforming to an XML Schema Definition (XSD), wherein the constraint template conforms to a constraint template schema that is separate from the base schema; receiving a definition template that defines a sub-class for the elements; executing a schema generator on a computer system to generate schema information by: (i) executing the schema generator to dynamically generate a data structure representing the classes of elements defined by the base schema and applying the definition template to the base schema to extend the schema information to include the sub-classes of elements defined within definition template, and (ii) executing the schema generator to dynamically update the schema information to include the restrictions defined by constraint templates; and executing a validation engine on the computer system to verify that instances of the elements within an XML document comply with the classes defined by the base schema, the sub-classes defined by the definition template, and the requirements defined by constraint template.