XSD The <anyAttribute> Element
The <anyAttribute> element enables us to extend the XML document with attributes not specified by the schema!
The <anyAttribute> Element
The <anyAttribute> element enables us to extend the XML document with attributes not specified by the schema.
The following example is a fragment from an XML schema called "family.xsd". It shows a declaration for the "person" element. By using the <anyAttribute> element we can add any number of attributes to the "person" element:
<xs:element name="person">
   
  <xs:complexType>
       
    <xs:sequence>
           
      <xs:element name="firstname" type="xs:string"/>
           
      <xs:element name="lastname" type="xs:string"/>
       
    </xs:sequence>
       
    <xs:anyAttribute/>
   
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
Now we want to extend the "person" element with a "eyecolor" attribute. In this case we can do so, even if the author of the schema above never declared any "eyecolor" attribute.
Look at this schema file, called "attribute.xsd":
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
targetNamespace="https://www.w3schools.com"
xmlns="https://www.w3schools.com"
elementFormDefault="qualified">
<xs:attribute name="eyecolor">
   
  <xs:simpleType>
       
    <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
           
      <xs:pattern value="blue|brown|green|grey"/>
       
    </xs:restriction>
   
  </xs:simpleType>
</xs:attribute>
</xs:schema>
The XML file below (called "Myfamily.xml"), uses components from two different schemas; "family.xsd" and "attribute.xsd":
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<persons xmlns="http://www.microsoft.com"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:SchemaLocation="http://www.microsoft.com family.xsd
https://www.w3schools.com attribute.xsd">
<person eyecolor="green">
 
<firstname>Hege</firstname>
 
<lastname>Refsnes</lastname>
</person>
<person eyecolor="blue">
 
<firstname>Stale</firstname>
 
<lastname>Refsnes</lastname>
</person>
</persons>
The XML file above is valid because the schema "family.xsd" allows us to add an attribute to the "person" element.
The <any> and <anyAttribute> elements are used to make EXTENSIBLE documents! They allow documents to contain additional elements that are not declared in the main XML schema.

