Naming Conventions

From XBRLWiki

Contents 1 Folders 2 File names 3 Namespaces 3.1 Target namespace 3.2 Namespace prefix 4 Concepts 5 Types 6 Codes and enumeration values 7 Linkroles 8 Resources 9 Specials

Folders

Folders are irrelevant to XML but important to control versioning of released files and ownership of these files.

• Taxonomy files MUST be released as children of a folder.
• The top level folder of any taxonomy MUST represent the owner of the taxonomy files.
• The first level of sub folders MUST represent the reporting framework in which the taxonomy resides.
• The second level of sub folders MUST represent the version and/or release date of the taxonomy files inside.
• If dates are used to name folders, its notation MUST be: CCYYMMDD (no dashes or other characters).
• Folder names MUST be in lower case.
• Folder names MUST NOT use spaces (if a seperator is needed, an underscore is advised)

RH: Do we have a limited list of 'owners' that can be prescribed?

RH: How do we number the rules uniquely?

RH: I would like to emphasize that having reasons for each rule prevents a lot of questions. I.e. The reason for folder names to be lower case is to prevent problems between software running on Unix or Microsoft server.

Example:

• eba
  • finrep
    • 20131201
  • corep
    • 20121201

File names

File names are irrelevant to XML but the XBRL adoption of XPointer that addresses @id in named files makes it necessary to have rules on the file names:

• File names MUST be in lower case;
• File names MUST NOT be longer than 15 characters;
• File names MUST NOT use spaces (if a seperator is need an underscore is advised);
• File name extension '.xsd' MUST be used for schema files;
• File name extension '.xml' MUST be used for linkbase files;
• Schema file names MUST represent their technical content according to the following table:

File name	Content
tab	tables
met	metrics
dim	dimensions
exp	explicit domains
typ	typed domains
mem	explicit domain members
fam	families
pers	perspectives
hier	member hierarchies
fws	frameworks
?	modules

RH: A lot of new (to XBRL) terms are introduced, must they be linked to the definition page?

RH: Are the new terms agreed upon by the participants or still under review?

• Linkbase file names are created according to the following patterns:
  • 2.1 label linkbase: 11-lab-22.xml
  • generic label linkbase: 11-gla-22.xml
  • 2.1 reference linkbase: 11-ref.xml
  • dimension-domain linkbases:
  • domain-member linkbases: 33-def.xml
  • table-dimension linkbases:
  • metrics-table linkbases:
  • presentation linkbases: 33-pre.xml
  • calculation linkbases: 33-cal.xml
  • formula linkbases:
  • table linkbases:

11 = the name of the schema file where the building block that requires the label is created (concept, linkrole etc.)
22 = a language code according to ISO 639-1 with the restriction to two characters lower case.
33 = the name of schema file where the children of the hosted relationships are created.

RH: There will be no divide in label and reference linkbase(name)s based on the role?

RH: The naming convention on D-linkbases is incomplete.

RH: The naming convention on P and C-linkbases forces children to come from the same schema or split linkbases per children origin. Is that the intention or is there a better algorhytm for the naming convention?

Namespaces

Namespaces are the unique identifier of a schema file and part of the key on all the content that is created in that schema file. A namespace can be written as an URI or URN. With an URI there is an expectancy that it really identifies the schema. An URN is 'just' a name. A much used practice is to express URI's as URL's without the extension of the actual file it addresses. These URI's are being used as URL's to store the schema file on a server that can be called from software.

A (target)namespace in a schema is often abbreviated with a namespace prefix. This allows for shorthand qualified names to be used inside schema's. Not all XML software can handle schema's that have no namespace prefix assigned to them, and will generate a warning or error. As a consequence two strings are being created and have naming conventions assigned to them.

Target namespace

• Namespaces MUST be in lower case;
• Namespaces MUST reflect URI's;
• Namespaces MUST reflect the actual location (URL) that the schemas are accessable by software (no GUI);

DTS Authors are free to assign any webserver address, however since the URI represents the physical location, the names of folders will automatically form the 'end' of the URI assigned.

Example for the finrep metrics schema at EBA:
xbrl.eba.europa.eu/.../finrep/20131201/met.xsd
Where the dots represent any folder structure EBA finds appropriate.

Namespace prefix

• Namespace prefix' MUST be in lower case;
• Namespace prefix' MUST only use characters a-z0-9, -, _;

Concepts

Types

Codes and enumeration values

Linkroles

Resources

Specials