Copyright ©2009 XBRL International Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Circulation of this Recommendation is unrestricted. This document is normative. Recipients are invited to submit comments to formula-feedback@xbrl.org, and to submit notification of any relevant patent rights of which they are aware and provide supporting documentation.
1 Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Relationship to other work
1.3 Language independence
1.4 Terminology
1.5 Document conventions (non-normative)
1.6 Namespaces and namespace prefixes
2 Syntax
2.1 Attributes in the XML namespace
2.2 Element: testcase
2.2.1 Element: owners
2.2.2 Element: number
2.2.3 Element: name
2.2.4 Element: documentation
2.2.5 Element: reference
2.2.6 Element: variation
2.2.6.1 Element: inputs
2.2.6.1.1 Input files
2.2.6.2 Element: outputs
2.2.6.2.1 Output error codes
2.2.7 Element: revisions
A Normative schema
B References
C Intellectual property status (non-normative)
D Acknowledgements (non-normative)
E Document history (non-normative)
F Errata corrections in this document
1 Namespaces and namespace prefixes
This specification defines a syntax for a generic conformance suite test. Specific types of tests will need to customise this generic conformance suite test to support documentation of the specific inputs and outputs being tested.
This specification is intended to support the creation, maintenance, and publication of XBRL conformance suites.
The official language of XBRL International's own work products is English and the preferred spelling convention is UK English.
This specification is consistent with the definitions of any of the terms defined in specifications that it depends on.
Documentation conventions follow those set out in the XBRL Variables Specification [VARIABLES].
Namespace prefixes [XML NAMES] will be used
for elements and attributes in
the form ns:name where ns is the
namespace prefix and name is the local name.
Throughout this specification, the mappings
from namespace prefixes to actual namespaces is consistent
with
Table
1.
The prefix column in Table 1 is non normative. The namespace URI column is normative.
| Prefix | Namespace URI |
|---|---|
conf
|
http://xbrl.org/2008/conformance
|
confe
|
http://xbrl.org/2008/conformance/error
|
xml
|
http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace
|
xlink
|
http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink
|
This specification only provides a textual declaration of syntax constraints when those constraints are not expressed by the normative schema supplied with this specification.
Explanations of elements and attributes are only supplied when explanations are not already provided in other specifications.
Unless explicitly stated otherwise, a reference to a specific element MUST be read as a reference to that element or to any element in its substitution group .
Any attribute in the XML namespace (http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace) MAY be
used on any element within a test case.
The
@xml:lang attribute MAY be used to indicate the language used to express
information in the test case, as per the XML Specification [XML].
The
@xml:base attribute MAY be used when resolving URIs
as per the XML Base Specification [XMLBASE].
A test case is an XML resource with the
<conf:testcase>
element
as its root.
The optional
<conf:owners>
element
contains one or more
<reg:owner>
elements, as defined in
the XBRL registry specification [REGISTRY].
Each owner is a person with responsibility for maintaining the test case. Without using this element, test case history relies upon information in the source control system being used.
The
<conf:number>
element
contains the identifying number of the conformance suite test.
That number SHOULD be unique among all tests in the entire suite.
The
<reg:documentation>
element
contains either a URL that resolves to documentation of the test case or it contains
XHTML [XHTML] markup documenting the test case.
The
<conf:reference>
element
contains a link to a a part of a specification that is relevant to the test case.
The
<conf:reference>
element
contains an
@xlink:type attribute that equals simple and
an
@xlink:href attribute that contains a URI that MUST
resolve to the part of the specification being referenced.
The
<conf:reference>
element MAY contain string content documenting
the nature of the resource that the URL is linking to.
A test case MAY contain several references, if the test case addresses several aspects of a specification or several specifications.
A test case variation is an XML resource with the
<conf:variation>
element
as its root.
The
<conf:variation>
element
contains the information about a specific variation of the test case.
A test case variation contains many of the same elements as a test case. In particular, it MAY contain its own elements documenting the owners, its number and name, its own documentation, and its references to normative specifications. All of these except for the documentation are optional. The syntax for all of this information matches that for the same information at the level of the test case.
Each test case variation also documents its specific inputs and expected outputs.
The
<conf:inputs>
element
contains a list of elements, one per input to the test case variation.
Each element in a
<conf:inputs>
element MUST be
in the substitution group for the abstract
<conf:input>
element.
This enables different kinds of conformance suites to specify appropriate kinds
of inputs.
The syntax for the input files is defined as part of the generic conformance test syntax because input files are common to a broad range of conformance suite tests.
Three different kinds of input files are defined as inputs to function test
case variations. Input schema files are identified by a
<conf:schema>
element; input linkbase files are identified by a
<conf:linkbase>
; and input
instance files are identified by a
<conf:linkbase>
element.
All three of these elements have the same content model.
The
@id attribute
is required on all of them to enable them to be referenced by other parts of the test
case variation.
If the elements have a
@readMeFirst attribute equal to true then they are
a starting point for the DTS discovery process that MUST occur
as part of initialising the software to perform the test case variation. Otherwise
the file MUST NOT be used as a starting point for the
DTS discovery process.
The elements also contain an
@xlink:type attribute that equals simple and
an
@xlink:href attribute that contains a URI that MUST
resolve to the file that it identifies.
The elements MAY contain string content documenting the nature of the resource that the URL is linking to.
The
<conf:outputs>
element
contains a list of elements, one per output from the test case variation.
Each element in a
<conf:outputs>
element MUST be
in the substitution group for the abstract
<conf:output>
element.
This enables different kinds of conformance suites to specify appropriate kinds
of outputs.
Syntax for an output QName error code is provided as part of the generic conformance test syntax because of the general need for such codes.
Output error codes are expressed by the
<conf:error>
element. Its QName value is the
QName of the error code that MUST be produced by software running the conformance
suite test if the software is to pass the test.
The optional
<reg:revisions>
element
conforms to the XBRL registry specification [REGISTRY]. It provides
a syntax for tracking explanations of changes to the conformance suite tests. This is
intended to augment the information captured in source control systems, should
such augmentation be required.
The following is the XML schema provided as part of this specification. This is normative. Non-normative versions (which should be identical to these except for appropriate comments indicating their non-normative status) are also provided as separate files for convenience of users of the specification.
NOTE: (non-normative) Following the schema maintenance policy of XBRL International, it is the intent (but is not guaranteed) that the location of non-normative versions of these schemas on the web will be as follows:
http://www.xbrl.org/2008/ - during the drafting process for
this specification this directory should contain a copy of the
most recent published version of the schema at
http://www.xbrl.org/2008/conformance.xsd.
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The attention of users of this document is directed to the possibility that compliance with or adoption of XBRL International specifications may require use of an invention covered by patent rights. XBRL International shall not be responsible for identifying patents for which a license may be required by any XBRL International specification, or for conducting legal inquiries into the legal validity or scope of those patents that are brought to its attention. XBRL International specifications are prospective and advisory only. Prospective users are responsible for protecting themselves against liability for infringement of patents. XBRL International takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any intellectual property or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in this document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available; neither does it represent that it has made any effort to identify any such rights. Members of XBRL International agree to grant certain licenses under the XBRL International Intellectual Property Policy (www.xbrl.org/legal).
This document could not have been written without the contributions of many people including the participants in the FWG.
| Date | Author | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 29 January 2008 | Geoff Shuetrim |
First internal working draft created. |
| 30 January 2008 | Geoff Shuetrim |
Fixed up various XML Schema errors. |
| 31 January 2008 | Geoff Shuetrim |
Adapted hyperlinks to use XLink simple link syntax. Added revision tracking. |
This appendix contains a list of the errata that have been incorporated into this document. This represents all those errata corrections that have been approved by the XBRL International FWG up to and including 22 June 2009. Hyperlinks to relevant e-mail threads may only be followed by those who have access to the relevant mailing lists. Access to internal XBRL mailing lists is restricted to members of XBRL International Inc.
No errata have been incorporated into this document.