Proposal for a task force to define and develop a reference software and conformance testing for DIS 29500
If a standard is to serve the purpose of enabling independent implementations to successfully interoperate then Italy believes that DIS 29500 is too complex a standard to achieve the goal at the speed required by today’s market place. The current standard expressed in natural language must be complemented by
A reference implementation with the following features
Demonstrably equivalent to the text standard (in functional terms) and with the same normative status as the standard expressed in natural language
Any misalignment between the two expressions of the standard should be handled by the normal corrigendum process
The reference implementation should be available to initiate the approval process in a short period of time (e.g. 6 months)
The reference implementation should contain, as a minimum:
A "creator/writer" of DIS 29500 conforming files
A "reader/viewer" of DIS 29500 conforming files
The set of functionalities supported by the said creator/writer and reader/viewer should be designed to test the critical features of the standard, not to emulate a product
The reference implementation should be an integral part of DIS 29500 (i.e. an Amendment) or could be an independent standard (e.g. ISO/IEC 29501)
The reference implementation should be available free of charge from the ITTF web site and should have a licence enabling implementers to
Utilise the code for commercial implementations of ISO/IEC 29500
Modify the code with the constraint of retaining conformance to ISO/IEC 29500.
Procedures and test suites with the following features
The procedures and test suites should enable implementers to test that
Files created by a product with file creation capabilities conform to the appropriate sections of ISO/IEC 29500
Products with file viewing capabilities conform to the appropriate sections of ISO/IEC 29500
The procedures and test suites should be an integral part of DIS 29500 (i.e. an Amendment) or could be an independent standard (e.g. ISO/IEC 29502).
If a standard is to serve the purpose of enabling independent implementations to successfully interoperate then Italy believes that DIS 29500 is too complex a standard to achieve the goal at the speed required by today’s market place. The current standard expressed in natural language must be complemented by
A reference implementation with the following features
Demonstrably equivalent to the text standard (in functional terms) and with the same normative status as the standard expressed in natural language
Any misalignment between the two expressions of the standard should be handled by the normal corrigendum process
The reference implementation should be available to initiate the approval process in a short period of time (e.g. 6 months)
The reference implementation should contain, as a minimum:
A "creator/writer" of DIS 29500 conforming files
A "reader/viewer" of DIS 29500 conforming files
The set of functionalities supported by the said creator/writer and reader/viewer should be designed to test the critical features of the standard, not to emulate a product
The reference implementation should be an integral part of DIS 29500 (i.e. an Amendment) or could be an independent standard (e.g. ISO/IEC 29501)
The reference implementation should be available free of charge from the ITTF web site and should have a licence enabling implementers to
Utilise the code for commercial implementations of ISO/IEC 29500
Modify the code with the constraint of retaining conformance to ISO/IEC 29500.
Procedures and test suites with the following features
The procedures and test suites should enable implementers to test that
Files created by a product with file creation capabilities conform to the appropriate sections of ISO/IEC 29500
Products with file viewing capabilities conform to the appropriate sections of ISO/IEC 29500
The procedures and test suites should be an integral part of DIS 29500 (i.e. an Amendment) or could be an independent standard (e.g. ISO/IEC 29502).
A number of Italian companies have declared their intention to contribute to the development of the reference software implementation and the procedures and test suites.
We note that ISO/IEC JTC1 SC29 WG11, as a rule, requires the availability of reference implementations of its standards with a normative status.
We suggest that the work on the reference implementation, if the proposal is formally submitted to JTC1 and approved, is assigned to SC34.
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Proposed Disposition of DIS 29500 Comment IT-0002 (Modified: 2008-01-09) The development of an Office Open XML specification conformance test suite for interoperability is an excellent suggestion. The usefulness of a reference implementation is clear from the work of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11. The majority of ISO, IEC and JTC 1 standards exist without conformance test suites or reference implementations, and these topics are not covered in the JTC 1 Directives; however we agree that the creation of a test suite would be a useful follow-up activity. Although no reference implementation or interoperability test suite is available at this time, a growing number of implementations of ECMA-376 are becoming available, including those released by Apple (Mac OS X Leopard, iWork 08, iPhone), Adobe (InDesign), Microsoft (Office 2007, Office 2003, Office XP, Office 2000, Office 2008 Mac OS X), Novell (Suse Open Office) , Google (Search / Preview), Mindjet (MindManager), Intergen, OpenXML/ODF Translator (Open Source project on Sourceforge), Dataviz (DocumentsToGo on Palm OS, MacLinkPlus on Mac OS X Leopard), NeoOffice, Altova (XMLSpy), MarkLogic (XML Content Server), Datawatch (Monarch Pro), QuickOffice (QuickOffice Premier 5.0 on Symbian), Altsoft (XML2PDF Server 2007) and those under development by Corel (WordPerfect), AbiWord, Gnome (GNumeric), Xandros, Linspire, Turbolinux and others. These implementations are now available on many platforms, including Linux, the Macintosh, Windows, and handheld devices (PalmOS, Symbian, Windows Mobile). If there were a common forum for these implementers to share their test suites, the community as a whole would benefit. If the requirement for an interoperability test suite or reference implementation is established and shared by National Bodies, SC 34 might initiate appropriate activities as suggested by this comment. Similar Comments: AT-0001 , GR-0002 ,
This seems to combine three objections:
1) Reference implementation needed.
2) Conformance tests needed.
3) Too little time provided.
It should be categorized as such.
I will have to think about how to deal with these multiple objection comments. Maybe just tag them for the moment, could split them later.
This comment would break ISO rules that explicitly forbid reference implementation to be part of a standard !!!
I think there are other ECMA standards with RIs; probably both JavaScript and C# come into that category, formally or informally.
The problem with RIs is that they become the official specification of the system. In OOXML, MSOffice 2007 is the de-facto RI, as it is what everyone has to work with. So it is the effective specification.
What would have been a better proposal would have been for MS to publish all their test XML docs, both valid and invalid.
This document describes why the Italian request for a refrence implementation does not fit with ISO directives:
http://www.narisa.com/downloads/OpenXML/ReferenceImplementationsInISOStandards.pdf