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> Some interesting initial questions are:

> * How do we get the ODA/ODIF standards documents?

> * How does ODA/ODIF compare with IBM's DCA, etc, which seems to be
> becoming a defacto interchange standard in this country?

> * How does ODA/ODIF relate to something like PostScript, which
> (especially with its soon-to-arrive screen display versions) is an
> interchange standard of a different sort?

> * Are there implementations of ODA/ODIF?

> * Is ODA/ODIF capable of rendering the sorts of hypermedia things we
> (well, I at least) expect to do?

> * Is there already a mailing list/newsgroup on this topic anywhere?

> * And, um, what do the letters stand for?

ODA stands fo Office Document Architecture, ODIF for Office Document
Interchange Format.

ODA is specified in ISO International Standard 8613, Parts 1 to 8.
This standard was only recently approved, and the final text will
probably not be available until mid-year.  I have a copy of the second
draft, which is not very different from the final version.  It is about
two inches of material.  I am willing to send this to people who can
convince me they have a serious interest in ODA and its capabilities.

ODA has the capabilities to fully describe the structure of a document
independent of its content.  Thus it could accommodate any abitrary
type of content, such as character, raster graphics (coded or bit
mapped), geometric graphics, audio etc.  The ISO 8613 currently
standardizes character, raster, and geometric graphic content
architectures.  ODA can also fully describe the document layout in the
layout structure.

A document described by ODA is thus fully processable (revisable), but
the information can also be conveyed to describe how the originator
intended it to appear.

The encoding of the ODA document description, which results in a binary
data stream or file, is called ODIF when Abstract Syntax Notation 1
(ASN.1) is used.  Encoding can also be done using Office Document
Language (ODL), which uses SGML.

>From the above it is clear that the capabilities of ODA far exceed
>those of DCA.

PostScript should not be called an interchange standard, since
interchange usually takes place between peer systems, rather than
between a system and peripheral devices.

The layout process of ODA produces a page image (virtual page). Drivers
could be written to produce physical image of this.  Alternatively, and
likely, PostScript may be used as the interface to rendering devices.

I am not aware of any products with ODA at the moment, although many
manufacturers seem to be working on it, and there are a number of joint
projects such as ESPRIT in Europe and EXPRES in the US.  ODA was
demonstrated by Honeywell-Bull, Siemens, Olivetti, and ICL at the 87
Hanover Fair.

I can't comment on the relatioship of ODA to hypemedia.

The have been some comments on ODA in comp.protocols.iso, and this
subject should probably be cross-posted.

Standards work on ODA takes place in the US in ANSI X3V1, Text: Office
and Publishing Systems which meets four times a year.  It also sends
delegates to the international word.  Participation is welcomed.

Herman Silbiger
Chair, X3V1.3&5, Document and Content Architectures
...!homxb!hrs
201 949 3193
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