W3C OASIS

WebCGM 2.1

W3C Candidate Recommendation 15 September 2009

This version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/CR-webcgm21-20090915/
Latest WebCGM 2.1 version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/webcgm21/
Latest WebCGM Recommendation:
http://www.w3.org/TR/webcgm/
Previous version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/WD-webcgm21-20090604/
Editors:
Benoit Bezaire, PTC, bbezaire@ptc.com
Lofton Henderson, lofton@rockynet.com

This document is also available in these non-normative formats: zip file.


Abstract

Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) is an ISO standard, defined by ISO/IEC 8632:1999, for the interchange of 2D vector and mixed vector/raster graphics. WebCGM is a profile of CGM, which adds Web linking and is optimized for Web applications in technical illustration, electronic documentation, geophysical data visualization, and similar fields. First published (1.0) in 1999, WebCGM unifies potentially diverse approaches to CGM utilization in Web document applications. It therefore represents a significant interoperability agreement amongst major users and implementers of the ISO CGM standard.

The design criteria for WebCGM aim to balance graphical expressive power on the one hand, versus simplicity and implementability on the other. A small but powerful set of standardized metadata elements supports the functionalities of hyperlinking and document navigation, picture structuring and layering, and enabling search and query of WebCGM picture content.

The present version, WebCGM 2.1, refines and completes the features of the major WebCGM 2.0 release. WebCGM 2.0 added a DOM (API) specification for programmatic access to WebCGM objects, a specification of an XML Companion File (XCF) architecture, and extended the graphical and intelligent content of WebCGM 1.0.

Status of this Document

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at http://www.w3.org/TR/.

This is a W3C Candidate Recommendation of the WebCGM 2.1. W3C publishes a Candidate Recommendation to indicate that the document is believed to be stable and to encourage implementation by the developer community. The WebCGM Working Group expects to request that the Director advance this document to Proposed Recommendation when the following exit criteria have been met:

1. Sufficient reports of implementation experience have been gathered to demonstrate that the WebCGM 2.1 features are implementable and are interpreted in a consistent manner. To do so, the Working Group will insure that all features in the WebCGM 2.1 specification have been implemented at least twice in an interoperable way. This defined this as :

2. The Working Group has adopted a public test suite for WebCGM 2.1 and has produced a preliminary WebCGM 2.1 implementation report.

The preliminary Interoperability Implementation Report shows that a fair amount of WebCGM 2.1 features are already implemented. This document will remain a Candidate Recommendation until at least 15 October 2009.

The Working Group has identified the following features as "at risk":

Features for which there are not at least two implementations at the end of the Candidate Recommendation period may be removed from this specification.

This document was developed by the WebCGM Working Group, part of the Graphics Activity. The Working Group expects to advance this Working Draft to Recommendation Status. The list of changes made since the last public Working Draft is available in Appendix D, "Change Log", and are highlighted in the text itself.

WebCGM 2.1 is related to the previous W3C work on WebCGM 1.0 and 2.0. WebCGM 2.0 was simultaneously published by W3C as a Recommendation and by OASIS as an OASIS Standard. The two versions are identical in technical content, differing only in the formatting and presentation conventions of the two organizations. It is agreed that WebCGM 2.1 will be progressed by the same collaborative process and will result in technically a identical Recommendation and OASIS Standard.

This WebCGM 2.1 specification was initially based on a work by the same name, WebCGM 2.1 an OASIS Committee Specification.

The W3C Membership and other interested parties are invited to review the document and send comments through 15 October 2009 to public-webcgm@w3.org mailing list (public archive), including the prefix '[WebCGM 2.1 CR comment]' in the subject line.

Publication as a Candidate Recommendation does not imply endorsement by the W3C Membership. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than work in progress.

This document was produced by a group operating under the 5 February 2004 W3C Patent Policy. W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy.

Table of Contents

Detailed Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction to WebCGM

2.0 WebCGM Concepts

3.0 WebCGM Intelligent Content

4.0 WebCGM XML Companion File (XCF)

5.0 WebCGM Document Object Model (DOM)

6.0 WebCGM Profile

7.0 Conformance

8.0 ECMAScript binding

9.0 Application Configurable Items

Appendices