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Tabular Data – Creation, Conversion and Rendering for OFR Publishing

Presentation for the XML Working Group

June 16, 2004

Valerie Voci and Ed Schulke

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Agenda

• Overview of DSCS • Tabular data background information• Project overview- HOLC• Table creation, conversion and

rendering demonstration• EPA-OPPTS requirements• Q&A

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DSCS Staff in AttendanceDSCS Staff in Attendance

• Mark Anstey, CEO

• Ed Schulke, CIO

• Valerie Voci, VP, Business Development

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Company OverviewCompany Overview

• Since 1994• Leader in XML-based content solutions • Programmatic collection, conversion,

validation and delivery of data• Premier clients - government agencies

and commercial publishers• CMM level 3 compliant in Q4-2004

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Additional Services & ProductsAdditional Services & Products

• Software Tools• DTD And Schema Development• XML Software Application Customization

• Federal Government Data Products In XML– U.S. Federal Register, U.S. Congressional Record,

U.S. House and Senate Committee Reports, U.S. House and Senate Bills, The Congressional Research Service's Bill Digest

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HOLC Tabular Data Project

• Determine how to enhance the current HOLC authoring tool in order to manage all aspects of tabular data in legislative documents and implement chosen approach

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3 Phase Approach

• Phase One– Gather project requirements

• Phase Two– Develop software design and

implementation strategy

• Phase Three– Develop and deploy software

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Phase One Results

• Interviewed HOLC, GPO, LCS and Approps• Template driven approach• Tabular data in XyWrite not WYSIWYG• Most HOLC users not “experts” in bellcode• Microsoft® Word frequently referenced• Whole document rendered to review tables

and then modified as needed

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Findings

• 106th Congress Analyzed• 2,880 total tables in 426 bills

– 2 Columns 68 Tables 2.36%– 3 Columns 352 Tables 12.22%– 4 Columns 146 Tables 5.07%– 5 Columns 15 Tables 0.52%– 6 Columns 40 Tables 1.39%– 7 Columns 50 Tables 1.74%– 8 Columns 2,199 Tables 76.35%– 9 Columns 5 Tables 0.17%– 10 Columns & above 5 Tables 0.14%

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Desired Features

• GUI to select template• Ability to render just table• Reduce need to understand bellcode• WYSIWYG capability• Use GUI to modify attributes• Ability to create new templates• Provide context sensitive messages and help

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Release Strategy

• One– Provide users with template GUI for familiarity

and feedback

• Two– Provide more customization and incorporate

feedback from Release One

• Three– Provide advanced features

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How XML is Used

• XMetaL has native understanding of CALS (OASIS) table model

• XML modified for bellcode needs– e.g., leadering, flush-hang

• Template selection populates all necessary attributes

• XSLT used to convert to bellcode

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How Software Works

Template Information

GraphicPreviews

Legistbl.dll

Purpose:-Table Creation-Edit Tax Table-Edit Table Props

PrjTransformTable.dll

Purpose:- Convert XML to Bellcode- Replace special chars-Exam width of figure col

XmCustom.dll

Purpose:-Render bellcode to PDF

Stylesheets:Preprocess.xslBellTable.xsl

MicroCompSoftware

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Demonstration of HOLC Tool

• Bellcode table• 2 Column Entry• 2 Column Tax Table (with calculations)• 6 Column Military• Table Utilities

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Requirements : EPA-OPPTS Table Tool

• Software components enable a variety of XML authoring tools to create valid SGML/XML tables for the Federal Register

• Tables must compose properly using the GPO’s MicroComp composition software

• Please see the SRS Document

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Functionality : EPA-OPPTS Table Tool

• CREATION - tables created in CALS+

• CONVERSION - CALS+ to SGML/XML - CALS+ to bellcode - SGML/XML to CALS+ - SGML/XML to bellcode - bellcode to CALS+ - bellcode to SGML/XML

• RENDERING - create a PDF from valid SGML/XML of a table or entire FEDREG document

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Phase Two - Design

• Please see the Design Specifications• Software interacts with XML authoring

tool via DLL• Table shell in CALS+ format• 6 conversion routines• Table rendering - SGML/XML table into

PDF via MicroComp

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Next Steps

• DLL delivered incrementally to vendors• End of September delivery of tested,

documented, and approved software• Customization available• SIS program for FedReg publishing

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Contact InformationContact Information

DataStream Conversion Services387 Technology Drive

College Park, MD 20742

• Ed Schulke, eschulke@dscs.com, 301-405-2553• Valerie Voci, vvoci@dscs.com, 301-405-8510• Mark Anstey, manstey@dscs.com, 301-405-1896

www.dscs.com