XML Conformance Test Suite

OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite Now Available.

International Consortium Provides Set of 1,000 Tests for XML Parsers

Boston, MA. July 30, 1999.

OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, today announced public availability of the OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite -- a set of more than 1,000 tests that determine the ability of XML parsers to handle test cases built on the W3C Recommendation. The OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite can be downloaded from the OASIS web site at http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/xmltest/testsuite.htm.

The OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite incorporates tests developed by the OASIS technical committee with those contributed by Sun Microsystems, Fuji Xerox Information Systems, and James Clark. Utilizing an approach defined by committee members G. Ken Holman (Crane Softwrights, Ltd), Mary Brady (NIST), and Dave Brownell (formerly of Sun Microsystems), NIST staff built the test suite as it currently exists. Each set of contributed tests were validated against a set of locally installed parsers and augmented with test descriptions and pointers to the specific production under test, ensuring that each test was well-grounded in the recommendation. This information was encapsulated in an XML test description file for each set of tests, and then generated into a report using the supplied XSL stylesheets.

"We've put together the most comprehensive test suite available, covering much of the XML 1.0 specification-and we've done it using XML," said OASIS committee chairperson, Mary Brady (NIST), who emphasized that the OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite is completely open. "OASIS invites any organization that has developed XML conformance tests to become part of our continuing work."

"The OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite is critical for our industry," explained Norbert Mikula (DataChannel), OASIS chief technology officer. "It serves as a valuable resource for XML application developers as well as parser developers, providing them with a ready-to-go testing environment which will ultimately increase conformance to the XML recommendation."

Tim Bray, co-editor of the W3C XML specification, said, "The OASIS Conformance project is a major step forward, and the industry should rally around it. Both buyers and sellers of technology have, of late, been vocal in saying that they want to support XML, and I believe they are sincere. The Test Suite is a tool that will help everyone deliver on these good intentions."

"Internationalization is one of the biggest advantages of XML, and is further encouraged by this test suite," commented Makoto Murata (Fuji Xerox Information Systems), whose company made significant contributions to the work. "Japanese test cases assist in testing the support of Unicode, legacy encodings, and natural language markups."

Brady stressed that the posted OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite is a first release. "We will continue to work on additional aspects of XML as the standard evolves. Tests to include XML namespaces, X-Pointer/X-Link and XML schemas will be added when the recommendations become available."

OASIS (www.oasis-open.org) is a non-profit, international consortium dedicated solely to product-independent data and content interchange. Focusing on product interoperability, OASIS embraces the complete spectrum of structured information standards including XML, SGML and CGM. OASIS operates XML.org (www.xml.org), the first global XML industry portal featuring the XML.org Registry and Repository that offers automated public access to XML schemas for electronic commerce, business-to-business transactions, and tools and application interoperability. OASIS sponsors include Adobe Systems, AND-USA, Arbortext, Bentley Systems, Chrystal Software, Compaq, DataChannel, DMSi, Documentum, Dun & Bradstreet, Enigma, GCA, IBM, Inso, InterCAP, Interleaf, Interwoven, ISOGEN, ITEDO, Keyfile, Larson Software, Microsoft, NextPage, NIST, Object Design, POET Software, Reed Technology, Reuters, Sabre, SoftQuad, Software AG, STEP, Sun Microsystems, Synthbank, System Development, Wavo, Xerox, XyEnterprise and Zeh Graphics Systems.

Carol Geyer
Program Manager
OASIS
Tel: +1.412.963.1479
Email: geyer@oasis-open.org

Prepared by Robin Cover for the The SGML/XML Web Page archive. See also: "XML Conformance."

SEARCH Advanced Search ABOUT Site Map CP RSS Channel Contact Us Sponsoring CP About Our Sponsors NEWS Cover Stories Articles & Papers Press Releases CORE STANDARDS XML SGML Schemas XSL/XSLT/XPath XLink XML Query CSS SVG TECHNOLOGY REPORTS XML Applications General Apps Government Apps Academic Apps EVENTS LIBRARY Introductions FAQs Bibliography Technology and Society Semantics Tech Topics Software Related Standards Historic	XML Conformance Test Suite OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite Now Available. International Consortium Provides Set of 1,000 Tests for XML Parsers Boston, MA. July 30, 1999. OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, today announced public availability of the OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite -- a set of more than 1,000 tests that determine the ability of XML parsers to handle test cases built on the W3C Recommendation. The OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite can be downloaded from the OASIS web site at http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/xmltest/testsuite.htm. The OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite incorporates tests developed by the OASIS technical committee with those contributed by Sun Microsystems, Fuji Xerox Information Systems, and James Clark. Utilizing an approach defined by committee members G. Ken Holman (Crane Softwrights, Ltd), Mary Brady (NIST), and Dave Brownell (formerly of Sun Microsystems), NIST staff built the test suite as it currently exists. Each set of contributed tests were validated against a set of locally installed parsers and augmented with test descriptions and pointers to the specific production under test, ensuring that each test was well-grounded in the recommendation. This information was encapsulated in an XML test description file for each set of tests, and then generated into a report using the supplied XSL stylesheets. "We've put together the most comprehensive test suite available, covering much of the XML 1.0 specification-and we've done it using XML," said OASIS committee chairperson, Mary Brady (NIST), who emphasized that the OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite is completely open. "OASIS invites any organization that has developed XML conformance tests to become part of our continuing work." "The OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite is critical for our industry," explained Norbert Mikula (DataChannel), OASIS chief technology officer. "It serves as a valuable resource for XML application developers as well as parser developers, providing them with a ready-to-go testing environment which will ultimately increase conformance to the XML recommendation." Tim Bray, co-editor of the W3C XML specification, said, "The OASIS Conformance project is a major step forward, and the industry should rally around it. Both buyers and sellers of technology have, of late, been vocal in saying that they want to support XML, and I believe they are sincere. The Test Suite is a tool that will help everyone deliver on these good intentions." "Internationalization is one of the biggest advantages of XML, and is further encouraged by this test suite," commented Makoto Murata (Fuji Xerox Information Systems), whose company made significant contributions to the work. "Japanese test cases assist in testing the support of Unicode, legacy encodings, and natural language markups." Brady stressed that the posted OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite is a first release. "We will continue to work on additional aspects of XML as the standard evolves. Tests to include XML namespaces, X-Pointer/X-Link and XML schemas will be added when the recommendations become available." OASIS (www.oasis-open.org) is a non-profit, international consortium dedicated solely to product-independent data and content interchange. Focusing on product interoperability, OASIS embraces the complete spectrum of structured information standards including XML, SGML and CGM. OASIS operates XML.org (www.xml.org), the first global XML industry portal featuring the XML.org Registry and Repository that offers automated public access to XML schemas for electronic commerce, business-to-business transactions, and tools and application interoperability. OASIS sponsors include Adobe Systems, AND-USA, Arbortext, Bentley Systems, Chrystal Software, Compaq, DataChannel, DMSi, Documentum, Dun & Bradstreet, Enigma, GCA, IBM, Inso, InterCAP, Interleaf, Interwoven, ISOGEN, ITEDO, Keyfile, Larson Software, Microsoft, NextPage, NIST, Object Design, POET Software, Reed Technology, Reuters, Sabre, SoftQuad, Software AG, STEP, Sun Microsystems, Synthbank, System Development, Wavo, Xerox, XyEnterprise and Zeh Graphics Systems. Carol Geyer Program Manager OASIS Tel: +1.412.963.1479 Email: geyer@oasis-open.org Prepared by Robin Cover for the The SGML/XML Web Page archive. See also: "XML Conformance."