Unordered elements in XSD with obligatory and unbounded elements?

Question

I have the following element in my XSD:

<xs:element name="documents" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1">
    <xs:complexType>
        <xs:sequence>

            <xs:element name="invoice" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1">
                <xs:simpleType>
                    <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
                        <xs:minLength value="1"/>
                    </xs:restriction>
                </xs:simpleType>
            </xs:element>

            <xs:element name="report" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1">
                <xs:simpleType>
                    <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
                        <xs:minLength value="1"/>
                    </xs:restriction>
                </xs:simpleType>
            </xs:element>

            <xs:element name="additional" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
                <xs:simpleType>
                    <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
                        <xs:minLength value="1"/>
                    </xs:restriction>
                </xs:simpleType>
            </xs:element>

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

You can see that documents must always have an invoice and optionally it can have a single report and zero or more additionals.

The problem is that these elements can have a different order of appearance, so I can´t use a sequence anymore. I tried to use all but then the problem is the additional element, since it has maxOccurs="unbounded".

How can I have an unordered list of elements with one of those those elements being always required and another element having unlimited occurrences?

Answer 1

Three suggestions. Either:

1. Impose an ordering. Almost always the perceived need to allow any ordering of elements is unnecessary in practice.
2. Use XSD 1.1, where maxOccurs="unbounded" is supported on xsd:all.
3. Use a wrapper around the element you wish to allow to have maxOccurs="unbounded". See additionalList in the XSD below for a working example.

XSD with wrapper element to work around unbounded xsd:all limitation

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
           elementFormDefault="qualified">
  <xs:element name="documents">
    <xs:complexType>
      <xs:all>
        <xs:element name="invoice" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1">
          <xs:simpleType>
            <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
              <xs:minLength value="1"/>
            </xs:restriction>
          </xs:simpleType>
        </xs:element>
        <xs:element name="report" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1">
          <xs:simpleType>
            <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
              <xs:minLength value="1"/>
            </xs:restriction>
          </xs:simpleType>
        </xs:element>
        <xs:element name="additionalList" minOccurs="0">
          <xs:complexType>
            <xs:sequence>
              <xs:element name="additional" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
                <xs:simpleType>
                  <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
                    <xs:minLength value="1"/>
                  </xs:restriction>
                </xs:simpleType>
              </xs:element>
            </xs:sequence>
          </xs:complexType>
        </xs:element>
      </xs:all>
    </xs:complexType>
  </xs:element>
</xs:schema>