HTML 5

This is revision 1.2852.

5 Microdata

Status: First draft. ISSUE-76 (Microdata/RDFa) blocks progress to Last Call

5.1 Introduction

5.1.1 Overview

This section is non-normative.

Sometimes, it is desirable to annotate content with specific machine-readable labels, e.g. to allow generic scripts to provide services that are customised to the page, or to enable content from a variety of cooperating authors to be processed by a single script in a consistent manner.

For this purpose, authors can use the microdata features described in this section. Microdata allows nested groups of name-value pairs to be added to documents, in parallel with the existing content.

5.1.2 The basic syntax

This section is non-normative.

At a high level, microdata consists of a group of name-value pairs. The groups are called items, and each name-value pair is a property. Items and properties are represented by regular elements.

To create an item, the item attribute is used.

To add a property to an item, the itemprop attribute is used on one of the item's descendants.

<div item>
 <p>My name is <span itemprop="name">Elizabeth</span>.</p>
</div>

<div item>
 <p>My name is <span itemprop="name">Daniel</span>.</p>
</div>

Properties generally have values that are strings.

<div item>
 <p>My name is <span itemprop="name">Neil</span>.</p>
 <p>My band is called <span itemprop="band">Four Parts Water</span>.</p>
 <p>I am <span itemprop="nationality">British</span>.</p>
</div>

Properties can also have values that are URLs. This is achieved using the a element and its href attribute, the img element and its src attribute, or other elements that link to or embed external resources.

<div item>
 <img itemprop="image" src="google-logo.png" alt="Google">
</div>

Properties can also have values that are dates, times, or dates and times. This is achieved using the time element and its datetime attribute.

<div item>
 I was born on <time itemprop="birthday" datetime="2009-05-10">May 10th 2009</time>.
</div>

Properties can also themselves be groups of name-value pairs, by putting the item attribute on the element that declares the property.

Items that are not part of others are called top-level microdata items.

<div item>
 <p>Name: <span itemprop="name">Amanda</span></p>
 <p>Band: <span itemprop="band" item> <span itemprop="name">Jazz Band</span> (<span itemprop="size">12</span> players)</span></p>
</div>

Properties don't have to be given as descendants of the element with the item attribute. They can be associated with a specific item using the subject attribute, which takes the ID of the element with the item attribute.

<div item id="amanda"></div>
<p>Name: <span subject="amanda" itemprop="name">Amanda</span></p>
<div subject="amanda" itemprop="band" item id="jazzband"></div>
<p>Band: <span subject="jazzband" itemprop="name">Jazz Band</span></p>
<p>Size: <span subject="jazzband" itemprop="size">12</span> players</p>

An item can have multiple properties with the same name and different values.

<div item>
 <p>Flavors in my favorite ice cream:</p>
 <ul>
  <li itemprop="flavor">Lemon sorbet</li>
  <li itemprop="flavor">Apricot sorbet</li>
 </ul>
</div>

An element introducing a property can also introduce multiple properties at once, to avoid duplication when some of the properties have the same value.

<div item>
 <span itemprop="favorite-color favorite-fruit">orange</span>
</div>

It's important to note that there is no relationship between the microdata and the content of the document where the microdata is marked up.

<figure>
 <img src="castle.jpeg">
 <legend><span item><span itemprop="name">The Castle</span></span> (1986)</legend>
</figure>

<span item><meta itemprop="name" content="The Castle"></span>
<figure>
 <img src="castle.jpeg">
 <legend>The Castle (1986)</legend>
</figure>

5.1.3 Typed items

This section is non-normative.

The examples in the previous section show how information could be marked up on a page that doesn't expect its microdata to be re-used. Microdata is most useful, though, when it is used in contexts where other authors and readers are able to cooperate to make new uses of the markup.

For this purpose, it is necessary to give each item a type, such as "com.example.person", or "org.example.cat", or "net.example.band". Types are identified in three ways:

• As URLs.
• As reversed DNS labels.
• Using the names of predefined types, which are described below.

URLs are self-explanatory. Reversed DNS labels are strings such as "org.example.animals.cat" or "com.example.band".

The type for an item is given as the value of the item attribute.

<section item="org.example.animal.cat">
 <h1 itemprop="name">Hedral</h1>
 <p itemprop="desc">Hedral is a male american domestic
 shorthair, with a fluffy black fur with white paws and belly.</p>
 <img itemprop="img" src="hedral.jpeg" alt="" title="Hedral, age 18 months">
</section>

An item can only have one type. The type gives the context for the properties: a property named "class" given for an item with the type "com.example.census.person" might refer to the class of an individual, while a property named "class" given for an item with the type "com.example.school.teacher" might refer to the classroom a teacher has been assigned.

5.1.4 Selecting names when defining vocabularies

This section is non-normative.

Using microdata means using a vocabulary. For some purposes, an ad-hoc vocabulary is adequate. For others, a vocabulary will need to be designed. Where possible, authors are encouraged to re-use existing vocabularies, as this makes content re-use easier.

When designing new vocabularies, identifiers can be created either using URLs, reversed DNS labels, or, for properties, as plain words (with no dots or colons). For URLs conflicts with other vocabularies can be avoided by only using identifiers that correspond to pages that the author has control over. Similarly, for reversed DNS labels conflicts can be avoided by using a domain name that the author has control over, or by using suffixes that correspond to the path components of pages that the author has control over.

Properties whose names are just plain words can only be used within the context of the types for which they are intended; properties named using URLs or reversed DNS labels can be reused in items of any type. If an item has no type, and is not part of another item, then if its properties have names that are just plain words, they are not intended to be globally unique, and are instead only intended for limited use. Generally speaking, authors are encouraged to use either properties with globally unique names (URLs, reversed DNS labels) or ensure that their items are typed.

<section item="org.example.animal.cat">
 <h1 itemprop="name com.example.fn">Hedral</h1>
 <p itemprop="desc">Hedral is a male american domestic
 shorthair, with a fluffy <span
 itemprop="com.example.color">black</span> fur with <span
 itemprop="com.example.color">white</span> paws and belly.</p>
 <img itemprop="img" src="hedral.jpeg" alt="" title="Hedral, age 18 months">
</section>

5.1.5 Predefined vocabularies

ISSUE-73 (predefined-voc) blocks progress to Last Call

This section is non-normative.

To make the most common tasks simpler, certain vocabularies have been predefined. These use short names for types and properties.

<span item=vcard><span itemprop=fn>George Washington</span></span>

BEGIN:VCARD
PROFILE:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
SOURCE:document's address
FN:George Washington
N:Washington;George;;;
END:VCARD

5.1.6 Using the microdata DOM API

This section is non-normative.

The microdata becomes even more useful when scripts can use it to expose information to the user, for example offering it in a form that can be used by other applications.

The document.getItems(typeNames) method provides access to the top-level microdata items. It returns a NodeList containing the items with the specified types, or all types if no argument is specified.

Each item is represented in the DOM by the element on which the relevant item attribute is found. The type of that element can be obtained using the element.item DOM attribute.

var cats = document.getItems("com.example.feline");

Once an element representing an item has been obtained, its properties can be extracted using the properties DOM attribute. This attribute returns an HTMLPropertyCollection, which can be enumerated to go through each element that adds one or more properties to the item. It can also be indexed by name, which will return an object with a list of the elements that add properties with that name.

Each element that adds a property also has a content DOM attribute that returns its value.

var user = document.getItems('net.example.user')[0];
alert('Hello ' + user.properties['name'][0].content + '!');

The HTMLPropertyCollection object, when indexed by name in this way, actually returns a PropertyNodeList object with all the matching properties. The PropertyNodeList object can be used to obtained all the values at once using its contents attribute, which returns an array of all the values.

var cat = document.getItems('org.example.animals.cat')[0];
var colors = cat.properties['com.example.color'].contents;
var result;
if (colors.length == 0) {
  result = 'Color unknown.';
} else if (colors.length == 1) {
  result = 'Color: ' + colors[0];
} else {
  result = 'Colors:';
  for (var i = 0; i < colors.length; i += 1)
    result += ' ' + colors[i];
}

It's also possible to get a list of all the property names using the object's names DOM attribute.

var outer = document.createElement('ul');
for (var item = 0; item < document.items.length; item += 1) {
  var itemLi = document.createElement('li');
  var inner = document.createElement('ul');
  for (var name = 0; name < document.items[item].names.length; name += 1) {
    var propLi = document.createElement('li');
    propLi.appendChild(document.createTextNode(document.items[item].names[name]));
    inner.appendChild(propLi);
  }
  itemLi.appendChild(inner);
  outer.appendChild(itemLi);
}
document.body.appendChild(outer);

<section item="org.example.animal.cat">
 <h1 itemprop="name com.example.fn">Hedral</h1>
 <p itemprop="desc">Hedral is a male american domestic
 shorthair, with a fluffy <span
 itemprop="com.example.color">black</span> fur with <span
 itemprop="com.example.color">white</span> paws and belly.</p>
 <img itemprop="img" src="hedral.jpeg" alt="" title="Hedral, age 18 months">
</section>

5.2 Encoding microdata

5.2.1 The microdata model

The microdata model consists of groups of name-value pairs known as items.

Each group has zero or more types, each name has one or more values, and each value is either a string or another group of name-value pairs.

5.2.2 Items: the item attribute

Every HTML element may have an item attribute specified.

An element with the item attribute specified creates a new item, a group of name-value pairs.

The attribute, if specified, must have a value that is either:

• The empty string, or
• A valid URL that is an absolute URL for which the string "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml/custom#" is not a prefix match, or
• A valid reversed DNS identifier, or
• A predefined type.

The item type of an element with an item attribute is the value of the element's item attribute. If the attribute's value is the empty string, the element is said to have no item type.

5.2.3 Associating names with items

The subject attribute may be specified on any HTML element to associate the element with an element with an item attribute. If the subject attribute is specified, the attribute's value must be the ID of an element with an item attribute, in the same Document as the element with the subject attribute.

An element's corresponding item is determined by its position in the DOM and by any subject attributes on the element, and is defined as follows:

If the element has a subject attribute

If there is an element in the document with an ID equal to the value of the subject attribute, and if the first such element has an item attribute specified, then that element is the corresponding item. Otherwise, there is no corresponding item.

If the element has no subject attribute but does have an ancestor with an item attribute specified

The nearest ancestor element with the item attribute specified is the element's corresponding item.

If the element has neither subject attribute nor an ancestor with an item attribute specified

The element has no corresponding item.

The list of elements that create items but do not themselves have a corresponding item forms the list of top-level microdata items.

5.2.4 Names: the itemprop attribute

Every HTML element that has a corresponding item may have an itemprop attribute specified.

An element with the itemprop attribute specified adds one or more name-value pairs to its corresponding item.

The itemprop attribute, if specified, must have a value that is an unordered set of unique space-separated tokens representing the names of the name-value pairs that it adds. The attribute's value must have at least one token.

Each token must be either:

• A valid URL that is an absolute URL for which the string "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml/custom#" is not a prefix match, or
• A valid reversed DNS identifier, or
• A predefined global property name allowed in this situation, or
• If the item's item type is a predefined type: a predefined property name allowed in this situation, or
• If the item has no item type but it is itself the value of a property whose property name is a predefined property name: a predefined property name allowed in this situation, or
• If the item's item type is not a predefined type and the item is not the value of a property whose property name is a predefined property name: a string that contains no U+002E FULL STOP (.) or U+003A COLON (:) characters, and that is not a predefined global property name.

The property names of an element are the tokens that the element's itemprop attribute is found to contain when its value is split on spaces, with the order preserved but with duplicates removed (leaving only the first occurrence of each name).

With an item, the properties are unordered with respect to each other, except for properties with the same name, which are ordered in tree order.

<div item>
 <p itemprop="a">1</p>
 <p itemprop="a">2</p>
 <p itemprop="b">test</p>
</div>

<div item>
 <p itemprop="b">test</p>
 <p itemprop="a">1</p>
 <p itemprop="a">2</p>
</div>

<div item>
 <p itemprop="a">1</p>
 <p itemprop="b">test</p>
 <p itemprop="a">2</p>
</div>

5.2.5 Values

The property value of a name-value pair added by an element with an itemprop attribute depends on the element, as follows:

If the element also has an item attribute

The value is the item created by the element.

If the element is a meta element

The value is the value of the element's content attribute, if any, or the empty string if there is no such attribute.

If the element is an audio, embed, iframe, img, source, or video element

The value is the absolute URL that results from resolving the value of the element's src attribute relative to the element at the time the attribute is set, or the empty string if there is no such attribute or if resolving it results in an error.

If the element is an a, area, or link element

The value is the absolute URL that results from resolving the value of the element's href attribute relative to the element at the time the attribute is set, or the empty string if there is no such attribute or if resolving it results in an error.

If the element is an object element

The value is the absolute URL that results from resolving the value of the element's data attribute relative to the element at the time the attribute is set, or the empty string if there is no such attribute or if resolving it results in an error.

If the element is a time element with a datetime attribute

The value is the value of the element's datetime attribute.

Otherwise

The value is the element's textContent.

The URL property elements are the a, area, audio, embed, iframe, img, link, object, source, and video elements.

If a property's value is an absolute URL, the property must be specified using an URL property element.

5.3 Microdata DOM API

document . getItems( [ types ] )

Returns a NodeList of the elements in the Document that create items, that are not part of other items, and that are of one of the types given in the argument, if any are listed.

The types argument is interpreted as a space-separated list of types.

element . properties

If the element has an item attribute, returns an HTMLPropertyCollection object with all the element's properties. Otherwise, an empty HTMLPropertyCollection object.

element . content [ = value ]

Returns the element's value.

Can be set, to change the element's value.

5.4 Predefined vocabularies

ISSUE-73 (predefined-voc) blocks progress to Last Call

A number of predefined types exist, for describing common structures. Each such type has a set of predefined property names that are used to describe data of that type. In addition, there are some predefined global property names that can be used for any item.

5.4.1 General

The predefined global property name about can be used to name an item for the purposes of identifying or refering to the data defined in that item.

A single property with the name about may be present within each item. Its value must be an absolute URL.

5.4.2 vCard

An item with the predefined type vcard represents a person's or organization's contact information.

The following are the type's predefined property names. They are based on the vocabulary defined in the vCard specification and its extensions, where more information on how to interpret the values can be found. [RFC2426] [RFC4770]

fn

Gives the formatted text corresponding to the name of the person or organization.

The value must be text.

Exactly one property with the name fn must be present within each item with the type vcard.

n

Gives the structured name of the person or organization.

The value must be an item with zero or more of each of the family-name, given-name, additional-name, honorific-prefix, and honorific-suffix properties.

Unless one of the conditions given below applies, exactly one property with the name n must be present within each item with the type vcard.

If one of the following conditions does apply, then the n may be omitted:

The item with the type vcard has both an fn property and an org property, and they both have values that are strings and those strings are identical when compared in a case-sensitive manner.

The contact information must be for an organization.

The item with the type vcard has an fn property whose value consists of a string with zero space characters.

The value of the fn property must be a nickname.

The item with the type vcard has an fn property whose value consists of a string with exactly one sequence of space characters, which occurs neither at the immediate start nor the immediate end of the string.

The value of the fn property must be a name in one of the following forms:

• Last, First
• Last F.
• Last F
• First Last

family-name (inside n)

Gives the family name of the person, or the full name of the organization.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name family-name may be present within the item that forms the value of the n property of an item with the type vcard.

given-name (inside n)

Gives the given-name of the person.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name given-name may be present within the item that forms the value of the n property of an item with the type vcard.

additional-name (inside n)

Gives the any additional names of the person.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name additional-name may be present within the item that forms the value of the n property of an item with the type vcard.

honorific-prefix (inside n)

Gives the honorific prefix of the person.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name honorific-prefix may be present within the item that forms the value of the n property of an item with the type vcard.

honorific-suffix (inside n)

Gives the honorific suffix of the person.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name honorific-suffix may be present within the item that forms the value of the n property of an item with the type vcard.

nickname

Gives the nickname of the person or organization.

The nickname is the descriptive name given instead of or in addition to the one belonging to a person, place, or thing. It can also be used to specify a familiar form of a proper name specified by the fn or n properties.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name nickname may be present within each item with the type vcard.

photo

Gives a photograph of the person or organization.

The value must be an absolute URL.

Any number of properties with the name photo may be present within each item with the type vcard.

bday

Gives the birth date of the person or organization.

The value must be a valid date string.

A single property with the name bday may be present within each item with the type vcard.

adr

Gives the delivery address of the person or organization.

The value must be an item with zero or more type, post-office-box, extended-address, and street-address properties, and optionally a locality property, optionally a region property, optionally a postal-code property, and optionally a country-name property.

If no type properties are present within an item that forms the value of an adr property of an item with the type vcard, then the address type strings intl, postal, parcel, and work are implied.

Any number of properties with the name adr may be present within each item with the type vcard.

type (inside adr)

Gives the type of delivery address.

The value must be text that, when compared in a case-sensitive manner, is equal to one of the address type strings.

Within each item with the type vcard, there must be no more than one adr property item with a type property whose value is pref.

Any number of properties with the name type may be present within the item that forms the value of an adr property of an item with the type vcard, but within each such adr property item there must only be one type property per distinct value.

post-office-box (inside adr)

Gives the post office box component of the delivery address of the person or organization.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name post-office-box may be present within the item that forms the value of an adr property of an item with the type vcard.

extended-address (inside adr)

Gives an additional component of the delivery address of the person or organization.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name extended-address may be present within the item that forms the value of an adr property of an item with the type vcard.

street-address (inside adr)

Gives the street address component of the delivery address of the person or organization.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name street-address may be present within the item that forms the value of an adr property of an item with the type vcard.

locality (inside adr)

Gives the locality component (e.g. city) of the delivery address of the person or organization.

The value must be text.

A single property with the name locality may be present within the item that forms the value of an adr property of an item with the type vcard.

region (inside adr)

Gives the region component (e.g. state or province) of the delivery address of the person or organization.

The value must be text.

A single property with the name region may be present within the item that forms the value of an adr property of an item with the type vcard.

postal-code (inside adr)

Gives the postal code component of the delivery address of the person or organization.

The value must be text.

A single property with the name postal-code may be present within the item that forms the value of an adr property of an item with the type vcard.

country-name (inside adr)

Gives the country name component of the delivery address of the person or organization.

The value must be text.

A single property with the name country-name may be present within the item that forms the value of an adr property of an item with the type vcard.

label

Gives the formatted text corresponding to the delivery address of the person or organization.

The value must be either text or an item with zero or more type properties and exactly one value property.

If no type properties are present within an item that forms the value of a label property of an item with the type vcard, or if the value of such a label property is text, then the address type strings intl, postal, parcel, and work are implied.

Any number of properties with the name label may be present within each item with the type vcard.

type (inside label)

Gives the type of delivery address.

The value must be text that, when compared in a case-sensitive manner, is equal to one of the address type strings.

Within each item with the type vcard, there must be no more than one label property item with a type property whose value is pref.

Any number of properties with the name type may be present within the item that forms the value of a label property of an item with the type vcard, but within each such label property item there must only be one type property per distinct value.

value (inside label)

Gives the actual formatted text corresponding to the delivery address of the person or organization.

The value must be text.

Exactly one property with the name value must be present within the item that forms the value of a label property of an item with the type vcard.

tel

Gives the telephone number of the person or organization.

The value must be either text that can be interpreted as a telephone number as defined in the CCITT specifications E.163 and X.121, or an item with zero or more type properties and exactly one value property. [E163] [X121]

If no type properties are present within an item that forms the value of a tel property of an item with the type vcard, or if the value of such a tel property is text, then the telephone type string voice is implied.

Any number of properties with the name tel may be present within each item with the type vcard.

type (inside tel)

Gives the type of telephone number.

The value must be text that, when compared in a case-sensitive manner, is equal to one of the telephone type strings.

Within each item with the type vcard, there must be no more than one tel property item with a type property whose value is pref.

Any number of properties with the name type may be present within the item that forms the value of a tel property of an item with the type vcard, but within each such tel property item there must only be one type property per distinct value.

value (inside tel)

Gives the actual telephone number of the person or organization.

The value must be text that can be interpreted as a telephone number as defined in the CCITT specifications E.163 and X.121. [E163] [X121]

Exactly one property with the name value must be present within the item that forms the value of a tel property of an item with the type vcard.

email

Gives the e-mail address of the person or organization.

The value must be either text or an item with zero or more type properties and exactly one value property.

If no type properties are present within an item that forms the value of an email property of an item with the type vcard, or if the value of such an email property is text, then the e-mail type string internet is implied.

Any number of properties with the name email may be present within each item with the type vcard.

type (inside email)

Gives the type of e-mail address.

The value must be text that, when compared in a case-sensitive manner, is equal to one of the e-mail type strings.

Within each item with the type vcard, there must be no more than one email property item with a type property whose value is pref.

Any number of properties with the name type may be present within the item that forms the value of an email property of an item with the type vcard, but within each such email property item there must only be one type property per distinct value.

value (inside email)

Gives the actual e-mail address of the person or organization.

The value must be text.

Exactly one property with the name value must be present within the item that forms the value of an email property of an item with the type vcard.

mailer

Gives the name of the e-mail software used by the person or organization.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name mailer may be present within each item with the type vcard.

tz

Gives the time zone of the person or organization.

The value must be text and must match the following syntax:

1. Either a U+002B PLUS SIGN character (+) or a U+002D HYPHEN-MINUS character (-).
2. A valid non-negative integer that is exactly two digits long and that represents a number in the range 00..23.
3. A U+003A COLON character (:).
4. A valid non-negative integer that is exactly two digits long and that represents a number in the range 00..59.

Any number of properties with the name tz may be present within each item with the type vcard.

geo

Gives the geographical position of the person or organization.

The value must be text and must match the following syntax:

1. Optionally, either a U+002B PLUS SIGN character (+) or a U+002D HYPHEN-MINUS character (-).
2. One or more digits in the range U+0030 DIGIT ZERO .. U+0039 DIGIT NINE.
3. Optionally*, a U+002E FULL STOP character (.) followed by one or more digits in the range U+0030 DIGIT ZERO .. U+0039 DIGIT NINE.
4. A U+003B SEMICOLON character (;).
5. Optionally, either a U+002B PLUS SIGN character (+) or a U+002D HYPHEN-MINUS character (-).
6. One or more digits in the range U+0030 DIGIT ZERO .. U+0039 DIGIT NINE.
7. Optionally*, a U+002E FULL STOP character (.) followed by one or more digits in the range U+0030 DIGIT ZERO .. U+0039 DIGIT NINE.

The optional components marked with an asterisk (*) should be included, and should have dix digits each.

The value specifies latitude and longitude, in that order (i.e., "LAT LON" ordering), in decimal degress. The longitude represents the location east and west of the prime meridian as a positive or negative real number, respectively. The latitude represents the location north and south of the equator as a positive or negative real number, respectively.

Any number of properties with the name geo may be present within each item with the type vcard.

title

Gives the job title, functional position or function of the person or organization.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name title may be present within each item with the type vcard.

role

Gives the role, occupation, or business category of the person or organization.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name role may be present within each item with the type vcard.

logo

Gives the logo of the person or organization.

The value must be an absolute URL.

Any number of properties with the name logo may be present within each item with the type vcard.

agent

Gives the contact information of another person who will act on behalf of the person or organization.

The value must be either an item with the type vcard, or an absolute URL, or text.

Any number of properties with the name logo may be present within each item with the type vcard.

org

Gives the name and units of the organization.

The value must be either text or an item with one organization-name property and zero or more organization-unit properties.

Any number of properties with the name org may be present within each item with the type vcard.

organization-name (inside org)

Gives the name of the organization.

The value must be text.

Exactly one property with the name organization-name must be present within the item that forms the value of an org property of an item with the type vcard.

organization-unit (inside org)

Gives the name of the organization unit.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name organization-unit may be present within the item that forms the value of the org property of an item with the type vcard.

categories

Gives the name of a category or tag that the person or organization could be classified as.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name categories may be present within each item with the type vcard.

note

Gives supplemental information or a comment about the person or organization.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name note may be present within each item with the type vcard.

rev

Gives the revision date and time of the contact information.

The value must be text that is a valid global date and time string.

The value distinguishes the current revision of the information for other renditions of the information.

Any number of properties with the name rev may be present within each item with the type vcard.

sort-string

Gives the string to be used for sorting the person or organization.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name sort-string may be present within each item with the type vcard.

sound

Gives a sound file relating to the person or organization.

The value must be an absolute URL.

Any number of properties with the name sound may be present within each item with the type vcard.

url

Gives a URL relating to the person or organization.

The value must be an absolute URL.

Any number of properties with the name url may be present within each item with the type vcard.

class

Gives the access classification of the information regarding the person or organization.

The value must be text with one of the following values:

• public
• private
• confidential

This is merely advisory and cannot be considered a confidentiality measure.

Any number of properties with the name class may be present within each item with the type vcard.

impp

Gives a URL for instant messaging and presence protocol communications with the person or organization.

The value must be either an absolute URL or an item with zero or more type properties and exactly one value property.

If no type properties are present within an item that forms the value of an impp property of an item with the type vcard, or if the value of such an impp property is an absolute URL, then no IMPP type strings are implied.

Any number of properties with the name impp may be present within each item with the type vcard.

type (inside impp)

Gives the intended use of the IMPP URL.

The value must be text that, when compared in a case-sensitive manner, is equal to one of the IMPP type strings.

Within each item with the type vcard, there must be no more than one impp property item with a type property whose value is pref.

Any number of properties with the name type may be present within the item that forms the value of an impp property of an item with the type vcard, but within each such impp property item there must only be one type property per distinct value.

value (inside impp)

Gives the actual URL for instant messaging and presence protocol communications with the person or organization.

The value must be an absolute URL.

Exactly one property with the name value must be present within the item that forms the value of an impp property of an item with the type vcard.

The address type strings are:

dom

Indicates a domestic delivery address.

intl

Indicates an international delivery address.

postal

Indicates a postal delivery address.

parcel

Indicates a parcel delivery address.

home

Indicates a residential delivery address.

work

Indicates a delivery address for a place of work.

pref

Indicates the preferred delivery address when multiple addresses are specified.

The telephone type strings are:

home

Indicates a residential number.

msg

Indicates a telephone number with voice messaging support.

work

Indicates a telephone number for a place of work.

voice

Indicates a voice telephone number.

fax

Indicates a facsimile telephone number.

cell

Indicates a cellular telephone number.

video

Indicates a video conferencing telephone number.

pager

Indicates a paging device telephone number.

bbs

Indicates a bulletin board system telephone number.

modem

Indicates a MODEM-connected telephone number.

car

Indicates a car-phone telephone number.

isdn

Indicates an ISDN service telephone number.

pcs

Indicates a personal communication services telephone number.

pref

Indicates the preferred telephone number when multiple telephone numbers are specified.

The e-mail type strings are:

internet

Indicates an Internet e-mail address.

x400

Indicates a X.400 addressing type.

pref

Indicates the preferred e-mail address when multiple e-mail addresses are specified.

The IMPP type strings are:

personal

business

Indicates the type of communication for which this IMPP URL is appropriate.

home

work

mobile

Indicates the location of a device associated with this IMPP URL.

pref

Indicates the preferred address when multiple IMPP URLs are specified.

5.4.2.1 Examples

<section id="jack" item="vcard">
 <h1 itemprop="fn">Jack Bauer</h1>
 <img itemprop="photo" alt="" src="jack-bauer.jpg">
 <p itemprop="org" item>
  <span itemprop="organization-name">Counter-Terrorist Unit</span>
  (<span itemprop="organization-unit">Los Angeles Division</span>)
 </p>
 <p>
  <span itemprop="adr" item>
   <span itemprop="street-address">10201 W. Pico Blvd.</span><br>
   <span itemprop="locality">Los Angeles</span>,
   <span itemprop="region">CA</span>
   <span itemprop="postal-code">90064</span><br>
   <span itemprop="country-name">United States</span><br>
  </span>
  <span itemprop="geo">34.052339;-118.410623</span>
 </p>
 <h2>Assorted Contact Methods</h2>
 <ul>
  <li itemprop="tel" item><span itemprop="value">+1 (310) 597
  3781</span> <span itemprop="type">work</span>
  <meta itemprop="type" content="pref"></li>
  <li><a itemprop="url"
  href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Bauer">I'm on
  Wikipedia</a> so you can leave a message on my user talk
  page.</li>
  <li><a itemprop="url"
  href="http://www.jackbauerfacts.com/">Jack Bauer Facts</a></li>
  <li itemprop="email"><a
  href="mailto:j.bauer@la.ctu.gov.invalid">j.bauer@la.ctu.gov.invalid</a></li>
  <li itemprop="tel" item><span itemprop="value">+1 (310) 555
  3781</span> <span><meta itemprop="type" content="cell">mobile
  phone</span></li>
 </ul>
 <p itemprop="note">If I'm out in the field, you may be better
 off contacting <span itemprop="agent" item="vcard"><a
 itemprop="email" href="mailto:c.obrian@la.ctu.gov.invalid"><span
 itemprop="fn">Chloe O'Brian</span></a></span> if it's about
 work, or ask <span itemprop="agent">Tony Almeida</span> if
 you're interested in the CTU five-a-side football team we're
 trying to get going.</p>
 <ins datetime="2008-07-20T21:00:00+0100">
  <span itemprop="rev" item>
   <meta itemprop="type" content="date-time">
   <meta itemprop="value" content="2008-07-20T21:00:00+0100">
  </span>
  <p itemprop="tel" item><strong>Update!</strong>
  My new <span itemprop="type">home</span> phone number is
  <span itemprop="value">01632 960 123</span>.
 </ins>
</section>

<address item=vcard>
 <strong title="fn">Alfred Person</strong> <br>
 <span itemprop="adr" item>
  <span itemprop="street-address">1600 Amphitheatre Parkway</span> <br>
  <span itemprop="street-address">Building 43, Second Floor</span> <br>
  <span itemprop="locality">Mountain View</span>,
   <span itemprop="region">CA</span> <span itemprop="postal-code">94043</span>
 </span>
</address>

5.4.3 vEvent

An item with the predefined type vevent represents an event.

The following are the type's predefined property names. They are based on the vocabulary defined in the iCalendar specification, where more information on how to interpret the values can be found. [RFC2445]

Only the parts of the iCalendar vocabulary relating to events are used here; this vocabulary cannot express a complete iCalendar instance.

attach

Gives the address of an associated document for the event.

The value must be an absolute URL.

Any number of properties with the name attach may be present within each item with the type vevent.

categories

Gives the name of a category or tag that the event could be classified as.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name categories may be present within each item with the type vevent.

class

Gives the access classification of the information regarding the event.

The value must be text with one of the following values:

• public
• private
• confidential

This is merely advisory and cannot be considered a confidentiality measure.

A single property with the name class may be present within each item with the type vevent.

comment

Gives a comment regarding the event.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name comment may be present within each item with the type vevent.

description

Gives a detailed description of the event.

The value must be text.

A single property with the name description may be present within each item with the type vevent.

geo

Gives the geographical position of the event.

The value must be text and must match the following syntax:

1. Optionally, either a U+002B PLUS SIGN character (+) or a U+002D HYPHEN-MINUS character (-).
2. One or more digits in the range U+0030 DIGIT ZERO .. U+0039 DIGIT NINE.
3. Optionally*, a U+002E FULL STOP character (.) followed by one or more digits in the range U+0030 DIGIT ZERO .. U+0039 DIGIT NINE.
4. A U+003B SEMICOLON character (;).
5. Optionally, either a U+002B PLUS SIGN character (+) or a U+002D HYPHEN-MINUS character (-).
6. One or more digits in the range U+0030 DIGIT ZERO .. U+0039 DIGIT NINE.
7. Optionally*, a U+002E FULL STOP character (.) followed by one or more digits in the range U+0030 DIGIT ZERO .. U+0039 DIGIT NINE.

The optional components marked with an asterisk (*) should be included, and should have dix digits each.

The value specifies latitude and longitude, in that order (i.e., "LAT LON" ordering), in decimal degress. The longitude represents the location east and west of the prime meridian as a positive or negative real number, respectively. The latitude represents the location north and south of the equator as a positive or negative real number, respectively.

A single property with the name geo may be present within each item with the type vevent.

location

Gives the location of the event.

The value must be text.

A single property with the name location may be present within each item with the type vevent.

resources

Gives a resource that will be needed for the event.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name resources may be present within each item with the type vevent.

status

Gives the confirmation status of the event.

The value must be text with one of the following values:

• tentative
• confirmed
• cancelled

A single property with the name status may be present within each item with the type vevent.

summary

Gives a short summary of the event.

The value must be text.

User agents should replace U+000A LINE FEED (LF) characters in the value by U+0020 SPACE characters when using the value.

A single property with the name summary may be present within each item with the type vevent.

dtend

Gives the date and time by which the event ends.

If the property with the name dtend is present within an item with the type vevent that has a property with the name dtstart whose value is a valid date string, then the value of the property with the name dtend must be text that is a valid date string also. Otherwise, the value of the property must be text that is a valid global date and time string.

In either case, the value be later in time than the value of the dtstart property of the same item.

The time given by the dtend property is not inclusive. For day-long events, therefore, the the dtend property's value will be the day after the end of the event.

A single property with the name dtend may be present within each item with the type vevent, so long as that vevent does not have a property with the name duration.

dtstart

Gives the date and time at which the event starts.

The value must be text that is either a valid date string or a valid global date and time string.

Exactly one property with the name dtstart must be present within each item with the type vevent.

duration

Gives the date and time at which the event starts.

The value must be text that is a valid vevent duration string.

The duration represented is the sum of all the durations represented by integers in the value.

A single property with the name duration may be present within each item with the type vevent, so long as that vevent does not have a property with the name dtend.

transp

Gives whether the event is to be considered as consuming time on a calendar, for the purpose of free-busy time searches.

The value must be text with one of the following values:

• opaque
• transparent

A single property with the name transp may be present within each item with the type vevent.

contact

Gives the contact information for the event.

The value must be text.

Any number of properties with the name contact may be present within each item with the type vevent.

url

Gives a URL for the event.

The value must be an absolute URL.

A single property with the name url may be present within each item with the type vevent.

exdate

Gives a date and time at which the event does not occur despite the recurrence rules.

The value must be text that is either a valid date string or a valid global date and time string.

Any number of properties with the name exdate may be present within each item with the type vevent.

exrule

Gives a rule for finding dates and times at which the event does not occur despite the recurrence rules.

The value must be text that matches the RECUR value type defined in the iCalendar specification. [RFC2445]

Any number of properties with the name exrule may be present within each item with the type vevent.

rdate

Gives a date and time at which the event recurs.

The value must be text that is one of the following:

• A valid date string.
• A valid global date and time string.
• A valid global date and time string followed by a U+002F SOLIDUS character (/) followed by a second valid global date and time string representing a later time.
• A valid global date and time string followed by a U+002F SOLIDUS character (/) followed by a valid vevent duration string.

Any number of properties with the name rdate may be present within each item with the type vevent.

rrule

Gives a rule for finding dates and times at which the event occurs.

The value must be text that matches the RECUR value type defined in the iCalendar specification. [RFC2445]

Any number of properties with the name rrule may be present within each item with the type vevent.

created

Gives the date and time at which the event information was first created in a calendaring system.

The value must be text that is a valid global date and time string.

A single property with the name created may be present within each item with the type vevent.

last-modified

Gives the date and time at which the event information was last modified in a calendaring system.

The value must be text that is a valid global date and time string.

A single property with the name last-modified may be present within each item with the type vevent.

sequence

Gives a revision number for the event information.

The value must be text that is a valid non-negative integer.

A single property with the name sequence may be present within each item with the type vevent.

A string is a valid vevent duration string if it matches the following pattern:

1. A U+0050 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P character.
2. One of the following:
   • A valid non-negative integer followed by a U+0057 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER W character. The integer represents a duration of that number of weeks.
   • At least one, and possible both in this order, of the following:
     1. A valid non-negative integer followed by a U+0044 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D character. The integer represents a duration of that number of days.
     2. A U+0054 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER T character followed by any one of the following, or the first and second of the following in that order, or the second and third of the following in that order, or all three of the following in this order:
        1. A valid non-negative integer followed by a U+0048 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER H character. The integer represents a duration of that number of hours.
        2. A valid non-negative integer followed by a U+004D LATIN CAPITAL LETTER M character. The integer represents a duration of that number of minutes.
        3. A valid non-negative integer followed by a U+0053 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S character. The integer represents a duration of that number of seconds.

5.4.3.1 Examples

<body item="vevent">
 ...
 <h1 itemprop="summary">Bluesday Tuesday: Money Road</h1>
 ...
 <time itemprop="dtstart" datetime="2009-05-05T19:00:00Z">May 5th @ 7pm</time>
 (until <time itemprop="dtend" datetime="2009-05-05T21:00:00Z">9pm</time>)
 ...
 <a href="http://livebrum.co.uk/2009/05/05/bluesday-tuesday-money-road"
    rel="bookmark" itemprop="url">Link to this page</a>
 ...
 <p>Location: <span itemprop="location">The RoadHouse</span></p>
 ...
 <p><input type=button value="Add to Calendar"
           onclick="location = getCalendar(this)"></p>
 ...
 <meta itemprop="description" content="via livebrum.co.uk">
</body>

function getCalendar(node) {
  while (node && !node.item.contains('vevent'))
    node = node.parentNode;
  if (!node) {
    alert('No event data found.');
    return;
  }
  var stamp = new Date();
  var stampString = '' + stamp.getUTCFullYear() + (stamp.getUTCMonth() + 1) + stamp.getUTCDate() + 'T' +
                         stamp.getUTCHours() + stamp.getUTCMinutes() + stamp.getUTCSeconds() + 'Z';
  var calendar = 'BEGIN:VCALENDAR\r\nPRODID:HTML\r\nVERSION:2.0\r\nBEGIN:VEVENT\r\nDTSTAMP:' + stampString + '\r\n';
  for (var propIndex = 0; propIndex < node.properties.length; propIndex += 1) {
    var prop = node.properties[propIndex];
    var value = prop.contents;
    var parameters = '';
    if (prop.localName == 'time') {
      value = value.replace(/[:-]/g, '');
      if (prop.date && prop.time)
        parameters = ';VALUE=DATE';
      else
        parameters = ';VALUE=DATE-TIME';
    } else {
      value = value.replace(/\\/g, '\\n');
      value = value.replace(/;/g, '\\;');
      value = value.replace(/,/g, \\,');
      value = value.replace(/\n/g, '\\n');
    }
    for (var nameIndex = 0; nameIndex < prop.itemprop.length; nameIndex += 1) {
      var name = prop.itemprop[nameIndex];
      if (!name.match(':') && !name.match('.'))
        calendar += name.toUpperCase() + parameters + ':' + value + '\r\n';
    }
  }
  calendar += 'END:VEVENT\r\nEND:VCALENDAR\r\n';
  return 'data:text/calendar;component=vevent,' + encodeURI(calendar);
}

<div item="vevent">
 <p>I'm going to
 <strong itemprop="summary">Bluesday Tuesday: Money Road</strong>,
 <time itemprop="dtstart" datetime="2009-05-05T19:00:00Z">May 5th at 7pm</time>
 to <time itemprop="dtend" content="2009-05-05T21:00:00Z">9pm</time>,
 at <span itemprop="location">The RoadHouse</span>!</p>
 <p><a href="http://livebrum.co.uk/2009/05/05/bluesday-tuesday-money-road"
       itemprop="url">See this event on livebrum.co.uk</a>.</p>
 <meta itemprop="description" content="via livebrum.co.uk">
</div>

5.4.4 Licensing works

An item with the predefined type work represents a work (e.g. an article, an image, a video, a song, etc). This type is primarily intended to allow authors to include licensing information for works.

The following are the type's predefined property names.

title

Gives the name of the work.

A single property with the name title may be present within each item with the type work.

author

Gives the name or contact information of one of the authors or creators of the work.

The value must be either an item with the type vcard, or text.

Any number of properties with the name author may be present within each item with the type work.

license

Identifies one of the licenses under which the work is available.

The value must be an absolute URL.

Any number of properties with the name license may be present within each item with the type work.

In addition, exactly one property with the name about must be present within each item with the type work, giving the URL of the work.

5.4.4.1 Examples

<figure item="work">
 <img itemprop="about" src="mypond.jpeg">
 <legend>
  <p><cite itemprop="title">My Pond</cite></p>
  <p><small>Licensed under the <a itemprop="license"
  href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/">Creative
  Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License</a>
  and the <a itemprop="license"
  href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php">MIT
  license</a>.</small>
 </legend>
</figure>