Handle Mixed Content XML in JSON Schema

Q: Handle Mixed Content XML in JSON Schema

## Mixed Content: Text + Elements + Attributes In XML, an element can contain text interleaved with child elements — this is called mixed content. The converter handles this by creating a dedicated property for the text content alongside the child element and attribute properties. ### Example XML xml This is important text with a link . ### Generated Schema with #text key json { "type": "object", "pr

Learn how elements containing both text content and child elements or attributes are represented using the configurable text content key (#text or _text).

Attributes

Detailed Explanation

Mixed Content: Text + Elements + Attributes

In XML, an element can contain text interleaved with child elements — this is called mixed content. The converter handles this by creating a dedicated property for the text content alongside the child element and attribute properties.

Example XML

<paragraph class="intro" id="p1">
  This is <bold>important</bold> text with <link href="/docs">a link</link>.
</paragraph>

Generated Schema with #text key

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "paragraph": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "@class": { "type": "string" },
        "@id": { "type": "string" },
        "#text": { "type": "string" },
        "bold": { "type": "string" },
        "link": {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "@href": { "type": "string" },
            "#text": { "type": "string" }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The Text Content Key

When an element has both text and child elements (or text and attributes), the text content is placed under a special property key. You can choose between:

#text — the more common convention, used by xml2js and many XML-to-JSON libraries
_text — an alternative for systems that do not support # in property names

When Is #text Used?

The #text property only appears when an element has mixed content. If an element contains only text (no children, no attributes), the element maps directly to a scalar type without needing a separate text property.

Element Has	Schema Representation
Text only	Scalar type (string, number, etc.)
Text + attributes	Object with `#text` + attribute properties
Text + children	Object with `#text` + child properties
Children only	Object with child properties

Use Case

When processing markup-heavy XML like XHTML content, DocBook documents, or any XML format where text is mixed with inline elements. Understanding mixed content handling is essential for accurately modeling these formats in JSON Schema.

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