Parsing Solutions & OASIS Content Assembly Mechanism (CAM) XMLWG 2004, Wash DC, Jan 21 st. David RR Webber Chair OASIS CAM TC

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 eBusiness XML parsing needs today Interoperability Opening up business integration rules Handling local context drivers Validating content How does W3C XSD schema help? What does OASIS CAM provide?

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 W3C Schema in a nutshell XML formatted syntax that describes the structure layout of a given XML instance Is a 90% solution – cannot describe every well formed XML instance perfectly (e.g. interleaved process and content – xhtml + SMIL) (e.g. interleaved process and content – xhtml + SMIL) Designed for use by programmers Has mechanisms for datatyping and content checking Has a model for creating objects of content and using object techniques

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 OASIS CAM in a nutshell CAM syntax - tool for business users to express the information exchange semantics and context of their business process steps as XML-based templates. library of CAM templates – provides discovery and re-use of common transaction details and sharing of domain context along with consistent referencing to shared nouns and verbs. CAM processing engine – component to provide consistent information exchanges at three levels – pre-checking content, runtime content assembly, post-receipt integration.

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Agenda Problem Understanding What are we trying to solve and for whom? What does XSD schema offer? How does CAM augment schema? Using CAM Approach Building templates Leveraging schema Next Steps Roadmap for 2004

What are we trying to solve and for whom? Understanding the Problem

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Define business ideas and needs Capture steps and workflow Then describe the business processing Top layer – rules and context Middle layer – industry/application integration Implementation layer – physical application systems and content delivery / exchange Consistent information integration mechanisms for use in Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Building e-Business Orchestration

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Reduce complexity of managing large numbers of transaction formats - document the differences Want to speed adoption by formalizing business rules Want context-driven transaction generation Empowers business users to build interchange details Need to define in a neutral format: works with variety of structures, not just XML Augment current standards and industry specifications Provide multi-step process support Business Layers - Objectives

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Business Challenges for XML Totally static transaction formats do not work – need configurable structures How to apply business context assertions to a information structure? How to derive a consistent way of specifying the interchange parameters to a partner? How to enable business domain users to implement the exchanges? Key: Context is Everywhere The ability to create re-usable information components is driven by the ability to enable context

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 XML, by itself, does not solve interoperability problems yet it is an important tool for doing so. XML does not provide instant semantics. XML by itself is not the magic bullet. What we need are clear policies and vision of how electronic information enables interoperability XML by itself is not enough

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 XML Schema? Why not just use XML Schema? OAGI did this for BODs V8.0 – but required supplementing schema with XSLT and XPath to capture business rules Had to make all elements optional No ability to enable business context of combinations of use – i.e. use patterns { if (condition) required | optional | optional } Limited constructs of structure – example no “interleave” of child elements

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Lessons learned: Which XML Method(s)? We need business collaboration on elements syntax: Global complexType definition? Global element definition? Create industry dictionaries? Reuse Reference global element in external namespace? Define local element as substitutionGroup of global element (bring into local namespace)? Define local element using external Namespace complexType (bring into local namespace)? Derive by extension, local element can have additional sub-elements added to it?

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 XML Schema - SWOT StrengthsWeaknesses Widely implemented in major XML parsers Defines structural layouts for XML content Graphical editors available Small footprint works well for embedded applications (web browser) Basic set of data types work well Tools can inspect schema and generate rendering for given XML content Integration with XSLT Schema instance self-contained Supports familiar “bottom-up” implementation Cannot define all possible structural combinations (e.g. scripts - SMIL) Syntax about syntax (legal Latin v legal English) Editing tools / parsers not necessarily compatible Complex syntax, difficult to hand-code Business context mechanism support Only works for XML structures Versioning of elements and attributes Including structural components External type library support Metadata registry referencing Validation to external code-lists Compliance level and specification support OpportunitiesThreats Replace column mechanisms in DBMS tables Support simple validation in data entry systems Work well with programmer IDE environments Initial momentum in marketplace stagnates as e- business requirements expose weaknesses Reduced to role in embedded local point systems

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Leveraging XSD and CAM Can build default CAM components from XSD Can build XML examples from XSD Can use CAM functionality to fill in the gaps in XSD

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 How does CAM augment schema? Can have multiple structure instances selected by context Can include structure from sub-assembly of components Enhanced element semantics beyond simply datatyping Full code lists functionality beyond NMTOKEN Ability to leverage semantics at attribute level consistently with elements Ability to version content model components Link to industry dictionaries Link to web service components for external checks Ability to assemble transaction instances Can handle non-XML formats

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Technology Positioning We can use W3C Schema to show basic typing and structural permutations for XML transaction content models. To provide automation of the business logic at-point-of- use requires OASIS CAM to supplement the Schema. Use models – simple one-off structures – XSD schema is adequate significant information exchange for e-Business – CAM required available open source CAM processor Need - leverage today’s in-place XML technology; provide enhanced functionality for next generation.

Using CAM Anatomy and Approach

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Basic Components of CAM XML instance structure(s) + Business context rules + Content Reference rules + Data Validation rules + External Mapping rules can have more than one structure layout can add inline rules directly into structure makeOptional() excludeTree() item type="noun" UIDReference="ukt000910" <conditional expression="'//SupplierID' and lookup(value,'SGIRWSDL:sup plierID_check')" Simple Declarative Statements Combined with

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Results for given context and action Context Statements How Context is applied CAM Template + CAM gets passed context from business use Generates actual XML instance definition to be used XML transaction content process and compare

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Integrating CAM into eBusiness stack Business agreement Drives document exchanges

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Business Context Mechanism Link between messaging layer, business process layer and assembly layer. <ebContext UIDref='SDIR03400' interchangeID=' ' BPMref='ABC123456:01‘ CPAref='ABC012345‘ xmlns:as=" An example context instance 1.0 CAM BPM <condition name="Catalogue" value="A2003-Q1" as:setLength="8" as:setMask="XNNNN-QN" as:UIDreference="SGIR:030451"/> <condition name="itemType" value="nonperishable" label="Item type:“ as:member="nonperishable,perishable,refridgerated,fragile"/>

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 CAM template XML structure A,B,C,D,E! Assembly Structure Business Context Rules Content Referencing Data Validations External Application Mapping Many examples available from Example

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Technology Foundation Simple XML V1.0 XPath Neutral approach to structure content Assertion predicates excludeAttribute() excludeElement() excludeTree() makeOptional() makeMandatory() makeRepeatable() setRequired() setChoice() setId() setLength() setLimit() setMask() setValue() restrictValues() restrictValuesByUID() useAttribute() useChoice() useElement() useTree() useAttributeByID() useChoiceByID() useElementByID() useTreeByID() lookup() startBlock(), endBlock()

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Structure Choices Structure Choices Context Values Context Values Required Content Structure Required Content Structure Process Engine Process Engine Content References Content References 1 Payload / Rendering Payload / Rendering 2 CAM Assembly Structure CAM Assembly Structure Payload Assembly 3 Application Database Application Database Registry Components Registry Components Conceptual Logical Physical Integration with Registry Dictionary Vocabulary nouns, and Industry Dictionaries Vocabulary nouns, and Industry Dictionaries Re-usable Business Information components Re-usable Business Information components

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 External Mapping and Merge Feature Product List <MapRule output="name" <MapRule output="manufacturer" <MapRule output="value" <MapRule output="sold"

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Available Components Specifications and examples from the SWIKI jCAM component VisualScript editor for CAM templates OASIS CAM TC

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Next Steps Work in progress: Completion of Specification Enhancement of CAM processor Library of CAM templates by industry Integration with OASIS Registry assembly

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Summary: The Holy Grail of e-Business Automatic information integration has been the Holy Grail of e-Business systems since before XML was conceived. Lesson learned - three needs are paramount: the ability to design transactions consistently, the ability to document their usage in a clear way and then the ability to drive software that can apply rules and test information content to ensure correct compliance. CAM approach provides these three critical abilities: documentation of business interchange transactions, design-time assembly support with verification, and runtime checking of information content.

OASIS – All rights reserved, Copyright ©, 2003 Additional Information OASIS CAM (assembly) Technical Committee OASIS ebXML Registry Technical Committee ebXML.org

OASIS – Content Assembly Mechanism (CAM TC) January Thank You xml.coverpages.org