Glossary¶
This section lists some terms that are being used throughout this project with which contributors should become familiar. Obviously we cannot explain all terms relevant to e-commerce or ERP. A look at Wikipedia and at the GS1 Glossary is recommended.
ONIX¶
- ONIX stands for ONline Information eXchange
ONIX is a metadata standard for the exchange of product information and bibliographic data. As such, ONIX is a modern Semantic Web or Web 3.0 solution using XML, the Extensible Markup Language. Its content consists of descriptive data that may be easily stored in web-accessible databases. This can be a relational database like MySQL or PostgreSQL or a NoSQL DB like CouchDB or a document store like BaseX – a native XML database. Valid ONIX identifiers are – among others – DOI, ISBN, ISNI, and ISSN.
ONIX enables automated data exchange and workflows for all players and the entire supply chain of the book trade. In addition to bibliographic information, the ONIX format – which has become the international standard in the book trade – also contains marketing information such as addresses, delivery details or prices. The sale of books without associated product data has become unthinkable with the advent of eCommerce. Thus, the automated exchange of metadata is becoming increasingly important for bookstores. ONIX files must be DTD-valid. To minimize potential errors, it is recommended to use XSD-valid files.
DTD¶
- DTD stands for Document Type Definition
DTDs are declarations that define the document type and document structure for a markup language of the SGML family like XML or HTML starting with an XML declaration followed by a DOCTYPE which contains the respective system identifiers. In our case the DTD defines the ONIX data elements. The XML parser needs the DTD for schema validation. Such a parser is called DTD-validating parser. There are also non-validating parsers that only check if the XML syntax of the document body is well-formed (according to the document type declarations).
An XML declaration for a file with UFT-8 encoding for special characters looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
XSD¶
- XSD stands for XML Schema Definition
XSDs or XML Schema Definitions by W3C are the successor to DTDs, and use stronger typing. Both the DTD scheme as well as the stricter XSD scheme check the correct structure of your ONIX files. An XML schema definition consists of a separate XML document, while a DTD itself is not an XML document. The XSD schema files for ONIX can be downloaded from EDItEUR. These XML schemes describe the grammar of ONIX, i.e. whether sentences are valid and which vocabulary may be used for error-free parsing. ONIX for Books code lists are available for download here. Further information about the XSD language together with criticism, code examples, and comparisons with the much simpler DTD language can be found on Wikipedia.
GTIN¶
- GTIN stands for Global Trade Item Number
GTIN is an international standard for identifying product information developed by GS1, the inventor of article barcodes and of the EDI standards. EAN-13 (now GTIN-13) – the 13 digits long European Article Number – and ISBN-13, the International Standard Book Number – are subsets of GTIN.
Schema.org defines the respective Semantic Web schemas for structured metadata and vocabulary used in HTML websites and RSS feeds, XML elements and RDFa content authoring, REST APIs, mail and SEO. Supported formats include RDFa, Microdata, and JSON-LD. Apart from ISBNs for books or GTIN codes other identifiers like the serialNumber property or productID can be used. While the default for WooCommerce is SKU – the Stock Keeping Unit – this will be overwritten by the GTIN property in Panda, as GTINs unlike SKUs are standardized and (EU) regulated. Both SKUs and GTINs (ISBNs/EANs/UCCs) are represented in scannable barcodes used for POS sales, for B2B (re)ordering and for inventory control.
GTIN-13 consists of a 3 digits GS1 prefix identifying the country of origin (of the manufacturer, not of the product), the manufacturer code, and the product code, followed by a check digit that works as checksum to verify correct scanning of barcodes. A book's GTIN or ISBN regardless of the place of publication always starts with the country code 978 or 979, sometimes called bookland. Thus, such a GTIN-13/EAN-13 is also referred as Bookland EAN. To exchange product data we may use a data pool from this GS1 list.
Participating manufacturers have a GLN or Global Location Number. GLNs and the corresponding GTINs can be verified using the GEPIR service.