Job Definition Format SDK

CIP4 Releases JDF SDK

Developer Toolkit for JDF, Workflow Automation Standard

Zurich, Switzerland. December 20, 2001.

The International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4) today announced the public release of a beta version of an XML Schema and a Software Development Kit (SDK) for CIP4's Job Definition Format (JDF) and related Job Messaging Format (JMF).

The Schema will allow developers to test the JDF they produce using standard XML tools. It can be freely downloaded from:

www.cip4.org/Schema/JDF_1.xsd.

"Release of schema is a major milestone in the development of JDF as the open standard of interoperability in the printing industry. The human-readable JDF specification has been available for some time. The schema provides a computer-readable representation of the JDF specification, and defines both the required structure of the data and the terms that will be used to describe each element of that data. CIP4's release of JDF schema, along with a validation tool, allows the developers at the many companies who are currently building JDF-based workflow solutions to provide interoperability between those solutions." said Jim Mekis, Vice President of the PrintTalk consortium and a CIP4 member.

The Schema conforms to the W3C schema recommendation as described in the W3C XML schema recommendation www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-0/ and related documents.

Usage of the SDK is free to all for purposes of research, in-house use and testing. Commercial usage (selling SDK based products for profit) is limited to CIP4 full and partner members. It is available for download at:

www.cip4.org/open_source.

Developer support is available via an open eMail forum, JDFDev@cip4.org.

"We are very excited to provide this toolkit to the worldwide developer community. The SDK will enable developers to quickly and efficiently add JDF connectivity to their products." said Dr. Rainer Prosi, Technical Officer of CIP4.

The SDK is based on the Apache Xerces XML parser (see xml.apache.org) and contains high level JDF and JMF manipulation classes as well as typesafe access to JDF attributes and elements. The initial implementation is designed to be platform independent. It is written in C++ in a Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 environment. It comes with HTML documentation and a host of sample applications, including a complete JDF and JMF validator.

About the Job Definition Format

JDF is an upcoming industry standard designed to simplify information exchange between different applications and systems in and around the Graphic Arts industry. To that end JDF builds on and extends beyond pre-existing partial solutions, such as CIP3's Print Production Format (PPF) and Adobe Systems' Portable Job Ticket Format (PJTF). It also enables the integration of commercial and planning applications into the technical workflow. JDF joins the growing number of standards based on XML, ensuring maximum possible portability between different platforms and ready interaction with Internet-based systems. More information is available at www.cip4.org.

About CIP4

CIP4 brings together vendors, consultants and end-users in the print communications, Graphic Arts industry and associated sectors, covering a variety of equipment, software, peripherals, and processes. Members participate in focused working groups to define future versions of JDF, to study user requirements, and to design the JDF SDK.

Information on CIP4, including membership details, is available from the organization's web site: www.cip4.org. Or contact: Stefan Daun, Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics, +49 6151 155 575, Stefan.Daun@igd.fhg.de.

Media Contact

Margaret Motamed
CIP4 Marketing Officer
Email: motamed@efi.com
Tel: (+1) 650-357-3331

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See "Job Definition Format (JDF)."

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