Message model objects: wildcard elements

A wildcard element represents an element which does not appear in the message model, but which could appear at the same position as the wildcard element in the input message.

Wildcard elements provide a means of adding flexibility to the message model, so that messages can be parsed even if they do not exactly match the message model.

Wildcard elements can only appear within a type or group with composition of sequence. If you want to allow unmodeled content to appear within a choice or all group, you must set the Content Validation to Open or Open Defined.

WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker
If you generate a dictionary from your message set and deploy it to WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker, wildcard elements will be validated against the model according to the following rules:
  • If Process Content is set to strict, only elements which are declared in the same message set will be allowed to appear in place of the wildcard element.
  • If Process Content is set to lax or skip, any element will be allowed to appear in place of the wildcard element.
Related concepts
Message modeling concepts
Message model objects
Message model objects: complex types
Message model objects: groups
Message model objects: wildcard attributes
Related tasks
Adding a wildcard element
Adding a wildcard attribute
Related reference
Content Validation properties for complex types