IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Authoring services in Integration Designer > Defining and transforming data > Defining data objects > Considerations when creating or using business objects

ElementFormDefault definition

The elementFormDefault is a schema property that defines how the types would be qualified for a given schema definition. For any schema created in IBM Integration Designer, by default this property is not specified, and the property is treated as unqualified.

When you convert Business Objects (BOs) to XML using the BOXMLSerializer API, you might need to qualify the local elements in the XML, in addition to the root element.

For example, for the following XSD:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema  xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" targetNamespace="uri:my_namespace">
	<xs:element name="myDoc"> 
		<xs:complexType> 
			<xs:sequence>
				<xs:element name="subnode" type="xs:string" maxOccurs="1" />
			</xs:sequence>
		</xs:complexType> 
	</xs:element>
</xs:schema>

The corresponding XML may need to be as follows:

<ns0:mydoc xmlns:ns0="uri:my-namespace">
	<ns0:subnode/>
</ns0:mydoc>               

However, instead, the following XML is what is generated:

<ns0:mydoc xmlns:ns0="uri:my-namespace">
	 <subnode/>
</ns0:mydoc>

Notice that the entry for the property subnode does not include the qualifier ns0. Depending on the scenario, unqualified elements might be set as null in the resulting business object. To achieve the correct qualified behavior of schema artifacts, set the elementFormDefault attribute in the schema or business object as follows:

<xs:schema  xmlns:xs="http:// www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" targetNamespace="uri:my-namespace" elementFormDefault="qualified">  

Tip: To add the elementFormDefault attribute on a business object, you need to edit the XSD. Right click the business object in the Business Integration view and select Open with > XML Editor. Alternatively, the namespace qualification mechanism can also be controlled on a declaration-by-declaration basis by using the form attribute:

<xs:element name="subnode" maxOccurs="1"  form="qualified"/>

Considerations when creating or using business objects