Data Format Description Language (DFDL)

Data Format Description Language (DFDL) 1.0 is a modeling language from the Open Grid Forum that is used to define the structure of general text and binary formatted data in a way that is independent of the data format. It is based on XML Schema 1.0.

DFDL is a way of describing the data. It is not a data format. DFDL can describe many data formats, including:

Textual and binary
Commercial record-oriented
Scientific and numeric
Modern and legacy
Industry standards

DFDL schema files use XML Schema objects, and annotations on those objects to define the data.

The XML Schema objects define the logical format of the data. You cannot use XML attributes in the data model.
DFDL schema annotations describe the physical format of the data.
XPath expressions are used to reference fields within the data.

DFDL is not intended to be used to model XML documents. Use normal XML Schema files to model XML.

For a simple example, see Example DFDL schema.

Support for DFDL

Support for DFDL in this product includes:

DFDL parser and domain.
DFDL parser (C and Java™).
DFDL serializer (C and Java).
DFDL schema file creation wizards. See Creating a DFDL schema file.
DFDL schema editor for modeling text and binary data formats. See DFDL schema editor.
DFDL Test perspective for testing your DFDL schema files. See Testing a DFDL schema file.
Developing independent applications that use the IBM® DFDL API. See Developing independent DFDL applications.

Not all features of the DFDL 1.0 specification are supported, and this implementation has some limitations. See the following topics:

Further information about DFDL 1.0

The latest published specification is on the OGF website, in HTML and PDF formats. The specification is produced by the OGF DFDL Working Group. The specification is an OGF Recommendation, which you can view at Data Format Description Language (DFDL) v1.0 Specification. The OGF document repository also contains a DFDL tutorial, comprising a number of PDF files.