ITU-T Z.106(08 2002) Common interchange format for

INTERNATIONALTELECOMMUNICATIONUNIONITU-TZ.106TELECOMMUNICATIONSTANDARDIZATIONSECTOROFITU(08/2002)SERIESZ:LANGUAGESANDGENERALSOFTWAREASPECTSFORTELECOMMUNICATIONSYSTEMSFormaldescriptiontechniques(FDT)–SpecificationandDescriptionLanguage(SDL)CommoninterchangeformatforSDLITU-TRecommendationZ.106ITU-TZ-SERIESRECOMMENDATIONSLANGUAGESANDGENERALSOFTWAREASPECTSFORTELECOMMUNICATIONSYSTEMSFORMALDESCRIPTIONTECHNIQUES(FDT)SpecificationandDescriptionLanguage(SDL)Z.100–Z.109ApplicationofformaldescriptiontechniquesZ.110–Z.119MessageSequenceChart(MSC)Z.120–Z.129ExtendedObjectDefinitionLanguage(eODL)Z.130–Z.139TreeandTabularCombinedNotation(TTCN)Z.140–Z.149UserRequirementsNotation(URN)Z.150–Z.159PROGRAMMINGLANGUAGESCHILL:TheITU-ThighlevellanguageZ.200–Z.209MAN-MACHINELANGUAGEGeneralprinciplesZ.300–Z.309BasicsyntaxanddialogueproceduresZ.310–Z.319ExtendedMMLforvisualdisplayterminalsZ.320–Z.329Specificationoftheman-machineinterfaceZ.330–Z.349Data-orientedhuman-machineinterfacesZ.350–Z.359Human-computerinterfacesforthemanagementoftelecommunicationsnetworksZ.360–Z.369QUALITYQualityoftelecommunicationsoftwareZ.400–Z.409Qualityaspectsofprotocol-relatedRecommendationsZ.450–Z.459METHODSMethodsforvalidationandtestingZ.500–Z.519MIDDLEWAREDistributedprocessingenvironmentZ.600–Z.609Forfurtherdetails,pleaserefertothelistofITU-TRecommendations.ITU-TRec.Z.106(08/2002)iITU-TRecommendationZ.106CommoninterchangeformatforSDLSummaryThisRecommendationdefinestheCommonInterchangeFormat(CIF)ofSpecificationandDescriptionLanguage(ITU-TRec.Z.100–SDL).TheCIFisintendedfortheinterchangeofgraphicalSDLspecifications(SDL-GR)madeondifferenttoolsthatdonotusethesamestorageformat.PriortothedefinitionofCIF,thetextualrepresentationofSDL(SDL-PR)wasusedtointerchangespecificationswiththedisadvantagethatallgraphicalinformationwaslost,makingthesamespecificationsoftenlookverydissimilarindifferentenvironments.WiththeCIF,thisdisadvantageisreducedtoaminimum,asitcontainsmostofthegraphicalinformation.TheCIFimprovestheindependencefromspecifictoolvendorsandallowsstandardsbodiestoacceptspecificationsinSDL-CIFirrespectiveofthetooltheyusefortheirinternalwork.Thisalsoimprovesproductivitybyallowingspecificationstobemadeontheaccustomedtool.AllSDLtoolvendorsareencouragedtoprovidefacilitiesforimportingandexportingSDL-CIF.ThisRecommendationdefineshowSDLdescriptionscanbestoredinordertobeinterchangedbetweentoolscomingfromdifferentvendors.ItdoesnottakeintoaccounttheMSCnotation.SDL-CIFisanextensiontoSDL.CIFisbasedontheSDL-PRsyntax,thetextualPhraseRepresentationofSDLalsodefinedinthisRecommendation.CIFcanbereadandwrittenbytoolsaswellasusers.AlltheconstructsavailableinSDLcanbeexpressedingraphicalformorinthepurelytextualSDL-PRform.ConstraintsongraphicalpresentationareexpressedinCIFbyaddingspecificannotationstoSDL-PR.Asaresult,mostSDL-PRdescriptionsarelegalSDL-CIFdescriptions.SDL-CIFisanopenstorageformatasitincludesamechanismoftool-specificdirectives.ThismechanismallowsaCIF-complianttooltoextendtheformatbyaddingspecificinformation.SDL-CIFisalsoeasilyimplementableandprovidestoolvendorswithtwolevelsoftoolconformanceandconceptsofmandatoryandoptionaldirectives.SDL-PRisanalternativetext-onlysyntaxforSDL.Before2002,SDL-PRwaspublishedaspartofZ.100,butasthemainuseofthisnotationisforcommunicationwithinandbetweentoolsthedefinitionhasbeenmovedtothisRecommendation.SDL-PRisLevel0CIFandallowstheinterchangeofsyntacticallycompleteSDLdescriptions,usuallyasasinglefilepersystem.ConformancetoSDL-PRrequiresthemodeltoconformtothecorrespondingsemanticsdefinedinITU-TRec.Z.100.ThisRecommendationintroducestwofurtherlevelsofSDL-CIF.Twofurtherconformancelevelsaredefined,oneatamoreliberalSDL-PRlevelandthesecondincludinggraphicalinformation.Thecompletegrammarisdescribedwiththerelatedsemantics.Mandatoryandoptionaldirectivesaredescribed,aswellastheformatfortool-specificdirectives.Currenttool-specificdirectivesaredescribedinAppendixI.TwolevelsofCIFconformancearedefinedaslevel1andlevel2.Level1isveryclosetoSDL-PR,butitsupportsincompleteSDLspecifications.Level2includeslevel1andisabletocapturemostofthegraphicalinformationofSDL-GRdiagrams.ACIFspecificationmustidentifywhichofthetwolevelsitcomplieswith.Similarly,toolvendorsthatusetheCIFshouldalsoidentifytheCIFleveltheycomplywithfortheirimportandexportfunctions.SourceITU-TRecommendationZ.106wasrevisedbyITU-TStudyGroup17(2001-2004)andapprovedundertheWTSAResolution1procedureon6August2002.iiITU-TRec.Z.106(08/2002)FOREWORDTheInternationalTelecommunicationUnion(ITU)istheUnitedNationsspecializedagencyinthefieldoftelecommunications.TheITUTelecommunicationStandardizationSector(ITU-T)isapermanentorganofITU.ITU-Tisresponsibleforstudyingtechnical,operatingandtariffquestionsandissuingRecommendationsonthemwithaviewtostandardizingtelecommunicationsonaworldwidebasis.TheWorldTelecommunicationStandardizationAssembly(WTSA),whichmeetseveryfouryears,establishesthetopicsforstudybytheITU-Tstudygroupswhich,inturn,produceRecommendationsonthesetopics.TheapprovalofITU-TRecommendationsiscoveredbytheprocedurelai