Описание тега xml-nil
About XML nil attributes
From W3C
XML Schema:Structures introduces a mechanism for signaling that an element should be accepted as "valid" when it has no content despite a content type which does not require or even necessarily allow empty content. An element may be "valid" without content if it has the attribute xsi:nil with the value true. An element so labeled must be empty, but can carry attributes if permitted by the corresponding complex type.