Data Format Description Language (DFDL) v1.0 Specification
OGF Proposed Recommendation GFD-P-R.174, January 31, 2011
By way of illustration, the DFDL information set is presented below as an object model using a Unified Modeling Language (UML) class diagram, augmented using the Object Constraint Language (OCL) [http://www.omg.org/technology/documents/modeling_spec_catalog.htm].
The structure of the information set follows the Composite design pattern. In case of inconsistency or ambiguity, the preceding discussion takes precedence.
DFDL is able to describe the format of the physical representation for data whose structure conforms to this model. Note that this model allows hierarchically nested data, but does not allow representation of arbitrary connected graphs of data objects.
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