New Release: XML Schema QOD

NIST XML Schema Quality of Design Tool

Date:      Thu, 22 May 2008 13:54:48 -0400
From:      KC Morris <kcm@CME.NIST.GOV>
To:        XMLWG@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV
Subject:   New Release of NIST's XML Schema Quality of Design Tool

NIST is pleased to announce a new release of the XML Schema Quality of Design Tool — QOD.

QOD assists in consistently using XML Schema for the specification of information. QOD is intended for both people developing guidelines for writing high quality XML schemas and those writing XML schemas. The purpose of QOD is to inprove the quality of the XML schemas. The system allows users to define rules for writing quality XML Schemas and to test schemas against those rules. This release of the tool includes improvements to the user interface, performance, and display of results, support for ISO Schematron for writing tests, and the addition of an import and export capability to facilitate off-line development of tests.

The QOD site also contains a number of sample sets of tests for XML Schema Naming and Design Rule (NDR) specifications. In addition to the improvements to the tool, the number of tests available also has been expanded. Extensive sets of test based on the following specifications are available:

The OAGIS 9.0 XML Naming and Design Rules Standard. http://www.openapplications.org/downloads/oagis/loadfrm90NDR.htm, Open Applications Group, September 30, 2005.
"IRS XML Standards and Guidelines." http://xml.coverpages.org/IRS-NDR-200508.pdf. Edited by Sol Safran Sol.Safran@irs.gov (IRS, Enterprise Data Management). Draft document. From Volume 4, IRS Enterprise Data Standards and Guidelines (Special Tools and Techniques), September 2006.
Department of the Navy XML Naming and Design Rules. http://xml.coverpages.org/DON-XML-NDR20050127-33942.pdf. Final Version 2.0. Office of the DON, Chief Information Officer. January 2005.

As a guest user, you may use these rules to check whether a schema that you are developing or uses meets those guidelines. More advanced users are able to create their own rules and make sets of rules available to their communities.

For more information, check it out at: http://nist.gov/qod

QOD Tool Overview

The XML Schema Quality of Design Tool (also called the QOD Tool) assists in consistently using XML Schema for the specification of information. Consistent design of XML schemas within an organization or single integration project can reduce the number and the severity of interoperability problems. In addition, this consistency makes the XML schema easier to extend, understand, implement, and maintain; and, it paves the way for automated testing and mapping. Applying best practices is one way to achieve this design consistency.

The purpose of QOD is to provide a prototypical environment for checking the XML schema design quality in a collaborative environment. In this version, there is no intention to create and maintain an extensive list of test cases, although the environment allows the user to do so. In the next version QOD will be extended to better support sharing and publication of design rules with the intention of maintaining an extensive set of test cases.

QOD is intended for both people developing guidelines for writing high quality XML schemas and those writing XML schemas.

The QOD site contains sample sets of design quality test guidelines (aka rules) for XML schemas as well as tests for some of those rules. As a guest user, you may use these rules to check whether a schema that you are developing or uses meets those guidelines. More advanced users may be interested in creating their own rules and making sets of rules available to their communities.

Additional Note from KC Morris

From a message posted to the UBL TC List; see the thread index for "New Release of NIST's XML Schema Quality of Design Tool". [With references at Naming and Design Rules]

[OAG, IRS and Navy are mentioned, whereas UBL (NDR) is not]

[KC Morris: "One goal for the QOD tool is to allow people to collaborate in the development of test cases for NDRs. We would like to see many organizations using the service to that end, as the IRS has done. If the Danish government would like to contribute their tests for their NDR to our system we would be more than happy to help them in doing so and they will retain all rights to the tests including the right to add, change, or remove tests from the system.

To add to what's already been said regarding the tests that are there, the three (3) test profiles that I mentioned are ones that are relatively complete. There are examples of test cases for several other groups. As to why those 3 are more complete than others here's how it worked: NIST supported the development of the DON NDR tests because it was one of the first NDRs that we had available, it had overlap with other NDRs of interest, and it was of interest to the manufacturing world. It was in part a learning experience for us to find out what it takes to develop a test profile. The IRS developed their own Test Profile and for obvious reasons they chose the IRS NDR. The work on the OAGi NDR was the outgrowth of other projects that we are involved with with OAGi and, in particular, our organization's interest in supporting the manufacturing world through the automobile industry's work with OAGi. Our organization is the Manufacturing Engineering Lab at NIST so our mission specifically includes support for manufacturing industry and related supply chains..."

References

About: "NIST's Information Technology Laboratory has a program for testing the underlying XML technologies and syntax.

The Manufacturing Interoperability Program (MIP) XML Testbed has been developed by NIST's Manufacturing Systems Integration Division in the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory. We focus on how XML and XML Schema can be used to support system integration. We work closely with standards development organizations, industry, other government agencies, and academia in applying the technology. Our resulting expertise includes testing and evaluation tools for specifications based on XML, as well as specifications of XML Schemas for particular applications..."

NIST XML Schema Quality of Design Tool (QOD Tool)
NIST Manufacturing Interoperability Program (MIP) XML Testbed
NIST XML Testbed Tools
Testbed Tools Relater Resources: Manufacturing B2B Test Bed, Schematron, NIST XML Technologies Conformance Testing Activities , Systems Integration for Manufacturing Applications (SIMA), Accordare Reflector, etc
NIST Model Development Life Cycle
NIST Content Checker Tool. "Assists in the consist application of XML Schema specifications to real business transactions"
SourceForge Project: Quality of Design Tool Kit. "A tool kit encoding XML schema Naming and Design Rules in Schematron and other computer-interpretable languages, enabling automated rule enforcement and improving schema quality." See the Peject Web Site.

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive.

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The purpose of QOD is to inprove the quality of the XML schemas. The system allows users to define rules for writing quality XML Schemas and to test schemas against those rules. This release of the tool includes improvements to the user interface, performance, and display of results, support for ISO Schematron for writing tests, and the addition of an import and export capability to facilitate off-line development of tests. The QOD site also contains a number of sample sets of tests for XML Schema Naming and Design Rule (NDR) specifications. In addition to the improvements to the tool, the number of tests available also has been expanded. Extensive sets of test based on the following specifications are available: The OAGIS 9.0 XML Naming and Design Rules Standard. http://www.openapplications.org/downloads/oagis/loadfrm90NDR.htm, Open Applications Group, September 30, 2005. "IRS XML Standards and Guidelines." http://xml.coverpages.org/IRS-NDR-200508.pdf. Edited by Sol Safran Sol.Safran@irs.gov (IRS, Enterprise Data Management). Draft document. From Volume 4, IRS Enterprise Data Standards and Guidelines (Special Tools and Techniques), September 2006. Department of the Navy XML Naming and Design Rules. http://xml.coverpages.org/DON-XML-NDR20050127-33942.pdf. Final Version 2.0. Office of the DON, Chief Information Officer. January 2005. As a guest user, you may use these rules to check whether a schema that you are developing or uses meets those guidelines. More advanced users are able to create their own rules and make sets of rules available to their communities. For more information, check it out at: http://nist.gov/qod QOD Tool Overview The XML Schema Quality of Design Tool (also called the QOD Tool) assists in consistently using XML Schema for the specification of information. Consistent design of XML schemas within an organization or single integration project can reduce the number and the severity of interoperability problems. In addition, this consistency makes the XML schema easier to extend, understand, implement, and maintain; and, it paves the way for automated testing and mapping. Applying best practices is one way to achieve this design consistency. The purpose of QOD is to provide a prototypical environment for checking the XML schema design quality in a collaborative environment. In this version, there is no intention to create and maintain an extensive list of test cases, although the environment allows the user to do so. In the next version QOD will be extended to better support sharing and publication of design rules with the intention of maintaining an extensive set of test cases. QOD is intended for both people developing guidelines for writing high quality XML schemas and those writing XML schemas. The QOD site contains sample sets of design quality test guidelines (aka rules) for XML schemas as well as tests for some of those rules. As a guest user, you may use these rules to check whether a schema that you are developing or uses meets those guidelines. More advanced users may be interested in creating their own rules and making sets of rules available to their communities. Additional Note from KC Morris From a message posted to the UBL TC List; see the thread index for "New Release of NIST's XML Schema Quality of Design Tool". [With references at Naming and Design Rules] [OAG, IRS and Navy are mentioned, whereas UBL (NDR) is not] [KC Morris: "One goal for the QOD tool is to allow people to collaborate in the development of test cases for NDRs. We would like to see many organizations using the service to that end, as the IRS has done. If the Danish government would like to contribute their tests for their NDR to our system we would be more than happy to help them in doing so and they will retain all rights to the tests including the right to add, change, or remove tests from the system. To add to what's already been said regarding the tests that are there, the three (3) test profiles that I mentioned are ones that are relatively complete. There are examples of test cases for several other groups. As to why those 3 are more complete than others here's how it worked: NIST supported the development of the DON NDR tests because it was one of the first NDRs that we had available, it had overlap with other NDRs of interest, and it was of interest to the manufacturing world. It was in part a learning experience for us to find out what it takes to develop a test profile. The IRS developed their own Test Profile and for obvious reasons they chose the IRS NDR. The work on the OAGi NDR was the outgrowth of other projects that we are involved with with OAGi and, in particular, our organization's interest in supporting the manufacturing world through the automobile industry's work with OAGi. Our organization is the Manufacturing Engineering Lab at NIST so our mission specifically includes support for manufacturing industry and related supply chains..." References About: "NIST's Information Technology Laboratory has a program for testing the underlying XML technologies and syntax. The Manufacturing Interoperability Program (MIP) XML Testbed has been developed by NIST's Manufacturing Systems Integration Division in the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory. We focus on how XML and XML Schema can be used to support system integration. We work closely with standards development organizations, industry, other government agencies, and academia in applying the technology. Our resulting expertise includes testing and evaluation tools for specifications based on XML, as well as specifications of XML Schemas for particular applications..." NIST XML Schema Quality of Design Tool (QOD Tool) NIST Manufacturing Interoperability Program (MIP) XML Testbed NIST XML Testbed Tools Testbed Tools Relater Resources: Manufacturing B2B Test Bed, Schematron, NIST XML Technologies Conformance Testing Activities , Systems Integration for Manufacturing Applications (SIMA), Accordare Reflector, etc NIST Model Development Life Cycle NIST Content Checker Tool. "Assists in the consist application of XML Schema specifications to real business transactions" SourceForge Project: Quality of Design Tool Kit. "A tool kit encoding XML schema Naming and Design Rules in Schematron and other computer-interpretable languages, enabling automated rule enforcement and improving schema quality." See the Peject Web Site. Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive.