BusinessDescription

All semantics conform to RosettaNet conventions and are specified in the Business Dictionary.

CharacteristicDefinition

All semantics are specified in the EC Technical Dictionary Specification.

CharacteristicSet

A set of elements and/or other CharacteristicsSets related to a product.
  1. If a CharacteristicSet references a Characteristic, then that Characteristic value applies only within the context of the semantics of the associated PropertyDefinitionSet, and the 'semantics' attribute of the associated PropertyDefinitionSet (which defaults to "Optional" if omitted).
In a response:
  2. A CharacteristicSet shall reference an element for each CharacteristicDefinition in the corresponding PropertyDefinitionSet (in the Dictionary referenced by the dicIdentifier), and in the Dictionary defined order.
  3. Additional elements may be reported at the end of the set of Dictionary-defined ones, in any order.
  4. If a CharacteristicSet appears in a query, regardless of whether it has Values for any member Characteristics, then that CharacteristicSet shall appear in the corresponding Response.
  5. If multiple instances of a Characteristic are reported in a Response then all values apply to the product. (EXAMPLE: This may be because the product is generic and has multiple options, or has multiple modes of operation, or is rated differently under different conditions.)

class

All semantics are specified in the EC Technical Dictionary Specification.

ContactInformation

All semantics conform to RosettaNet conventions and are specified in the Business Dictionary.

ContentType

All semantics are specified in the EC Technical Dictionary Specification.

ContentTypeRef

A unique identifier that defines the category of information provided by this PIO.
  1. The identifier shall match the preferred.name of a ContentType entry in the dictionary referenced by the dicIdentifier or an entry in the ec.dictionary.add of the containing instance.

data.object

The ObjectID of a PIO being requested. (NOTE: The ObjectId is usually acquired by a ProductInformationUser from the TOC PIO for a product.
  1. The content shall be the Distributor ObjectId for a PIO.
  2. If the content is null (i.e., <data.object></data.object> or <data.object/>) the request shall be for the TableOfContents (TOC) PIO for each product matched by the query, however, the ProductInformationDistributor is not obligated to return more than one TOC at a time.

Description

Information that characterizes or otherwise identifies this PIO.

dic.value

All semantics are specified in the EC Technical Dictionary Specification.

EffectiveDate

A date prior to which the information may not be valid, but after which it is valid, expressed in ISO 8601 format (YYYYMMDD).

element

The association of a product information characteristic name with a value.
  1. An ProductInformationDistributor may include any element in a response regardless of whether it was included as a request specification in a query.
In a query:
  2. There shall not be two elements with the same name content.
In a response:
  3. If two elements have the same name content, then both values shall apply to the parent part.info.

ec.dictionary.add

A container for dictionary information referenced by the response but not contained in the standard Dictionary.

FileFormat

All semantics are specified in the EC Technical Dictionary Specification.

FileFormatRef

A unique identifier that defines the type data encoding for this PIO.
  1. The identifier shall match the preferred.name of a FileFormat entry in the dictionary referenced by the dicIdentifier or an entry in the ec.dictionary.add of the containing instance.

ModificationDate

The last time a change was made, expressed in ISO 8601 format (YYYYMMDD).

name

The name of a Characteristic, or CharacteristicSet related to a product.
  1. If dicRef is specified in the containing element then the name content shall match the preferred.name of the dictionary entry identified by the dicRef.
  2 If the name matches the preferred.name of an entry in the dictionary named by the dicIdentifier, the semantics of the parent element shall conform to that dictionary entry.
In a query:
  3. The content may be anything.
In a response:
  4. In the case where a name from the query does not match the preferred.name of an entry in the dictionary named by the dicIdentifier then the InformationDistributor shall respond with a Characteristic that has the name from the query and whose value is one of:
     (a) null, and a NoValueReason="not.in.dictionary".
     (b) non-null, with a dicRef that references a CharacteristicDefinition in the ec.dictionary.add.
  5. In the case where the name does not match the preferred.name of an entry in the dictionary named by the dicIdentifier, or dicRef does not reference an entry in that dictionary, then the name shall match the preferred.name of an appropriate entry in the ec.dictionary.add, and the dicRef shall reference that entry.

NoValueReason

A qualifier specifying the reason for a null or empty value content.
  1. If the value content is non-null then the 'NoValueReason' attribute shall be null.
  2. If the value content is null then 'NoValueReason' shall match the preferred.name of a NoValueReason entry in the Dictionary, and that entry's semantics shall document the reason why the value content is null.
  3. 'NoValueReason' shall not be used in a query.

ObjectId

The identifier for a PIO unique in the namespace of the ProductInformationDistributor.
  1. This identifier shall match the identifier used for the PIO in the TOC, or shall be null (i.e., <data.object></data.object> or <data.object/>) if for the TOC itself.

ObjectName

The Distributor name for the containing PIO.

part.info

A container grouping information related to a product.
  1. The content shall relate to a single product.
  2. There shall not be two instances of a part.info for the same product in the same response.
  4. If the criteria specified in the corresponding query match any supplier products, the supplier shall return at least one part.info instance.
  5. The response shall not include more part.info instances than the number specified by the max.records attribute of that query.
  6. If the content of status is not s.success then no part.info elements shall be returned.
  7. The supplier shall determine what constitutes a suitable match.

PartnerDescription

All semantics conform to RosettaNet conventions and are specified in the Business Dictionary.

PartnerRoleDescription

All semantics conform to RosettaNet conventions and are specified in the Business Dictionary.

PIO

Meta data describing a logical representation of a set of arbitrary data (whose semantics are defined in a Dictionary entry) related to a product.

PropertyDefinitionSet

All semantics are specified in the EC Technical Dictionary Specification.

qd.key

An arbitrary identifier.
  1. If 'qd.key' is specified in a query then the same value shall be specified in the response.
  2. If 'qd.key' is absent in a query then it shall be absent in the response.

query

A request for product information, the content of which consists of zero or more request specifications, each of which identifies the information to be returned in a response for each product. Each request specification may be one of: element, CharacteristicSet,or send.addl.info.
  1. If the request specification is:
     a) element: then the request is for the value of that element.
     b) CharacteristicSet: then the request is for the values for each element referenced therein, recursively for each CharacteristicSet referenced therein.
     c) send.addl.info: then the request is for the actual object.
  2. The presence of a value in a request specification defines a match criteria specification for only products with information matching all indicated criteria (ie, the intersection of products matching each individual criteria specification).
  3. The XML instance containing this object shall be preceded by a "DOCTYPE" statement with a "PUBLIC" keyword and associated formal public identifier (FPI) that identifes the exact version of the DTD being used. A "SYSTEM" identifier shall follow the FPI.

response

Information for zero or more products that match the criteria specified in the corresponding query.
  1. The supplier shall decide what constitutes a match.
  2. If the 'matched' attribute is specified, it shall indicate the total number of products matching the match criteria of the corresponding query.
  3. If the 'starting.at' attribute is specified, it shall indicate that the set of part.info elements returned corresponds to an ordered set of products matching the match criteria, and shall define the ordinal position of the first part.info in that set (numbered from 1).
  4. If the 'returned' attribute is specified, it shall be the total number of part.info elements in the response.
  5. A response shall contain all requested Characteristics and CharacteristicSets, however, the value of any Characteristic may be null, in which case a NoValueReason shall be supplied.
  6. The InformationDistributor may include zero or more Characteristics of its choice in a response, whether or not they were requested in the query.
  7. The XML instance containing this object shall be preceded by a "DOCTYPE" statement with a "PUBLIC" keyword and associated formal public identifier (FPI) that identifes the exact version of the DTD being used. A "SYSTEM" identifier shall follow the FPI.

s.badquery

The query does not conform to all applicable specifications.

s.fail

The supplier is unable to return a useful response due to supplier-side system or communication problems.

s.nomatch

There is no product information matching the query MatchCriteria.

s.not.available

The information requested may or may not exist, however, the ProductInformationDistributor declines to return it.

s.reschedule.query

A time -- expressed in ISO 8601 format according to section 5.4.1. of ISO 8601 (YCCYYMMDDThhmmssZ) -- at which the same query, if resent, would yield the data requested. (NOTE: This might be used if the query would result in a large amount of data that would be more successfully transmitted by the Distributor at a later time.)

s.success

Product information matching the query criteria is being returned in the <response>.

send.addl.info

A request for a product information object.

status

An indicator confirming success or failure of the supplier's attempt to process the query.
  1. If the content matches exactly the preferred name of a TermDefinition entry in the standard dictionary that also includes the tag: <app.specific name="status"></app.specific> with a content that matches the name of the tag that is the content for the status element, then the semantics defined in that entry shall be presumed to apply.
  2. If the content of the status is other than s.success then no part.info elements shall be included in the response.

Supplier

The DUNS of the creator of this PIO.

TargetSoftware

An identifier for a tool that can be used to process this PIO.

TermDefinition

All semantics are specified in the EC Technical Dictionary Specification.

type

A qualifier describing the kind of measurement a value represents.
  1. If present, the value of the type object shall match exactly the content of the preferred.name element of a ValueType entry in the Dictionary referenced by the dicIdentifier of the current instance, and the semantics of that ValueType entry shall apply to the content of the current value.
  2. If absent, the content of the current value may be interpreted by either sender or receiver of the information as any value within the domain of values that conforms to the semantics of the corresponding dictionary entry.
  3. None of the attributes 'ptol.abs', 'ptol.per', 'ntol.abs', 'ntol.per' shall be specified if the value of the type is not "nom".
  4. If specified on a Value in a Query, then a Value with the same type shall be included for the corresponding Characteristic in the Response (although it may have a NoValueReason).

value

The value associated with the containing element.
  1. If the defining dictionary entry has a Unit, then the value shall be a measurement in the unit so defined.
  2. In any element there shall be at most one value element with a 'type' attribute of a given value.
  3. In any element there shall be at most one value element with no 'type' attribute.
  4. If an element contains a value element with a 'type' attribute then that element shall not also contain a value element with no 'type' attribute.
In a response:
  5. Every element shall contain at least one value.
  6. In a response the content shall conform to the encoding constraints specified by the value.format of the corresponding dictionary entry.
In a query:
  7. The content is an expression that specifies return of information for only those products with values conforming to the match rules of the expression. An expression consists of zero or more operands and operators as defined by the BNF, below. Each additional operand further narrows the field of products that should be matched, starting from a null expression, which matches all products. Whitespace is used only to separate operators from operands unless inside double quotes, in which case, it is considered part of the string to be matched. Inside of quotes, any whitespace matches any combination of blanks and tabs. Expression syntax and rules depend on the underlying domain of the corresponding CharacteristicDefinition in the dictionary referenced by the dict.identifier:

1. If the domain of the corresponding CharacteristicDefinition is boolean.type, then a boolean_expression shall be used (i.e., only exact matches on 0 or 1 are allowed).
2. If the domain of the corresponding CharacteristicDefinition is int.measure.type or real.measure.type then:
   1. A numeric_expression shall be used.
   2. All operands are interpreted as numeric.
   3. Any operand with no explicit unary operator immediately to the left constitutes an "equal" match.
   4. The "minus" operator (synonym for NOT) and "plus" operator (synonym for AND) are disallowed in a numeric_ expression.
   5. Binary operators (AND, OR) are not interpreted as numeric arithmetic (ie, not plus, minus or bitwise operations).
   6. A - occurring before a number (without any other intervening operators) means a negative number rather than the "NOT" operation. A + occurring before a number means a positive number rather than the "AND" operation. The absence of a sign before a number implies a positive number. These signs bind tighter than any operation.
3. If the domain of the corresponding CharacteristicDefinition is string.type or value.code.type then:
   1. A string_expression shall be used.
   2. Every operand is considered to be a "substring" of alphanumeric characters with an implied 0-or-more wildcard that matches any characters on the front and back. If the substring occurs anywhere in a value, it is a match.
   3. Any operand with no explicit unary operator to the left represents a request for an "equal" match in accordance with the substring match rules of c2, above.
   4. All matches are case insensitive.
   5. The GT, LT, GE, LE operators compare lexically according to ASCII collating sequence.

REMINDER: XML special characters in any content may need to be quoted (e.g., & as the character entity &amp;).  

Operators bind in order from left to right in an expression, except that innermost parentheses groups evaluate first, and NOT, LT, GT, LE, GE, bind tightest to the shortest expression on the right. The BNF for the expression syntax (single quotes to identify literal characters and [brackets] identify optional content) is:

whitespace	::=	blank | tab | whitespace whitespace
lgroup	::=	'('
rgroup	::=	')'
double_quote	::=	'"'
plus	::=	'+'
vertical_bar	::=	'|'
minus	::=	'-'
ampersand	::=	'&'
numeric_and_operator	::=	ampersand | 'and' | 'AND'
and_operator	::=	plus | numeric_and_operator
or_operator	::=	vertical_bar | 'or' | 'OR'
rel_operator	::=	'LT' | 'lt' | 'GT' | 'gt' | 'LE' | 'le' | 'GE' | 'ge'
numeric_not_operator	::=	'not' | 'NOT'
not_operator	::=	minus | numeric_not_operator
string	::=	Any sequence of characters (including zero or more XML character entities if used in a string or value.code domain).
operand	::=	string | double_quote string double_quote
boolean_expression	::=	'0' | '1'
numeric_expression	::=	operand | lgroup [whitespace] expression [whitespace] rgroup | numeric_not_operator whitespace expression | relational_operator whitespace expression | expression whitespace numeric_and_operator whitespace expression | expression whitespace numeric_or_operator whitespace expression
string_expression	::=	operand | lgroup [whitespace] expression [whitespace] rgroup | not_operator whitespace expression | relational_operator whitespace expression | expression whitespace and_operator whitespace expression | expression whitespace or_operator whitespace expression

EXAMPLES:

Expression	Domain Type	Matches
0	boolean.type	Matches 0
GT 3.3 & - gt 3.4 GT 3.3 & not gt 3.4 GT 3.3 & le 3.4	real.measure.type	3.3 < match <= 3.4
GT 3.3 & lt 3.4	real.measure.type	3.3 < match < 3.4
GT 12 & lt 12 7 and ( lt 6 or (gt 12) ) 7 and ( lt 6 or gt 12 ) gt 16 & ( not lt 1 ) AND not ( gt 15 ) -9 and NOT ( -9 or -9) -9 and NOT (-9) NOT lt - 9 AND lt -10	int.measure.type	Matches no values
SOT "SOT"	string.type	Matches SOT-24, TSOT-16 (among other things)
-SOT	string.type	Matches anything without the substring SOT in it.
RAM + - SRAM not SRAM and - - (RAM )	string.type	Matches DRAM, SDRAM (among other things)

value.codes

One or more enumerated values to be added to an existing value code list.
  1. The value of the 'dicRef' attribute shall match the value of an 'id' attribute of a CharacteristicDefinition entry in the standard Dictionary, and each child dic.value shall be considered to be part of the valueDomain of that entry.

Version

An arbitrary identifier indicating a content revision level.