The CALS table format for XML is one that is widely used and very capable, and it has been in use for many years. It is capable, but complex. In this paper we describe its capabilities before moving on to the challenges of finding change between two tables that, ideally, have the same basic structure but in reality can be very different in structure and content.
Impossible problems that need to be solved are not uncommon, especially in engineering. The trick is to simplify the problem so that it can be solved and then, as far as possible, introduce some of the complexity back into the simplified solution. Restricting ourselves to comparing tables as XML markup may be useful to the technical user but is less satisfactory when looking at the rendered result, and it is this rendered result that is of interest now to the majority of users, who tend to be less technical. This paper explores a better approach.
Publications change constantly throughout their lifecycle. More control over how change is represented speeds up and enhances your publishing process, especially when you can adapt the output of changes for different reviewers, editors or even customers.
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CALS tables are used in many technical documentation standards. There are OASIS specifications for CALS tables which include a number of semantic rules to ensure table validity. This paper reports on some of our experiences with CALS table processing and validation.
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WHERE CHANGE MATTERS
From ISO Quality Services Ltd.
