Data Object Support XML Schema Reference
Data Designer Extensibility (DDEX) relies on users writing provider-specific XML files that define the data object and data view hierarchies. These XML files must validate against schemas for data object support and data view support. The present reference section documents the XML schema definition (.xsd) file for data object support (DataObjectSupport.xsd). Documentation of the schema file for data view support can be found in Data View Support XML Schema Reference.
The Data Object Support XML file allows a DDEX provider to define the structure of its data source in terms of a set of objects. This definition does not represent the actual data on the data source (that is, the rows in a table), nor does it represent the structure of data in the data source (that is, the list of tables). It abstracts one level further to represent the structure of the structure of data on the data source.
For example, it does not define that a table column has name "id" and type "integer", but rather it defines that there exists a type called "table column" that has properties "name" and "type". The resulting definitions allow upstream data designers to represent and design the structure of data sources.
Data Object Support Schema Elements
The Data Object Support XML Schema file (DataObjectSupport.xsd) contains annotations describing the individual elements. This XSD file is provided with the DDEX SDK and is installed (by default) at drive:\Program Files\Visual Studio 2008 SDK\build number\VisualStudioIntegration\Common\Schemas.