XDXF

This page covers the format called Dictionary exchange format. It is designed to consolidate all of the various free formats so that dictionaries can be shared. However, this does not address the dictionaries that have DRM.

The standard

Available at: http://xdxf.revdanica.com/drafts/visual/latest/

File organization

Each dictionary is located in its own folder, the name of the folder is used as an ID, The folder name must contain only Latin characters and must not contain spaces or other special characters. So, if the dictionary name is "Webster's Unabridged Dictionary published in 1913" then the folder name should be something like "Webster1913". The dictionary file itself is always "dict.xdxf". It is recommended for each dictionary to have a set of icons for toolbars and a large icon for the front page. The sizes should be: 16x16, 32x32, 512x512. And the filenames would be icon16.png icon32.png and icon512.png respectively. Note that all file names are case sensitive.

All XDXF dictionary text files (those with .xdxf extension) are in XML format with UTF-8 encoding.

Example

<xdxf lang_from="ENG" lang_to="ENG" format="visual">
<full_name>Webster's Unabridged Dictionary</full_name>
<description>Webster's Unabridged Dictionary published 1913 by the... </description>  

<abbreviations>
 <abr_def><k>n.</k> <v>noun</v></abr_def>
 <abr_def><k>v.</k> <v>verb</v></abr_def>
 <abr_def><k>Av.</k><k>Ave.</k><v>Avenue</v> </abr_def>
</abbreviations>

<ar><k><opt>The </opt>United States<opt> of America</opt></k></ar>

<ar><k>record</k>
<pos><abr>n.</abr></pos>
[<tr>re'kord</tr>] Anything written down and preserved.
<pos><abr>v.</abr></pos>
[<tr>reko'rd</tr>]
To write down for future use.</ar>

<ar><k>home</k>
[<tr>ho:um</tr>]
<pos><abr>n.</abr></pos>
<rref start="16384" size="512"> sounds_of_words.ogg </rref>
1) One's own dwelling place; the house in which one lives.
2) One's native land; the place or country in which one dwells.
3) The abiding place of the affections. <ex>For without hearts there is no home.</ex>
4) <dtrn>дом</dtrn> at home -  make yourself at home -
<ex>XDXF Home page: <iref> http://xdxf.sourceforge.net </iref></ex>
See also: <kref> home-made </kref></ar>

<ar f="l"><k>home</k><tr>ho:um</tr><pos><abr>n.</abr></pos><rref start="16384" size="512">
sounds_of_words.ogg </rref><def>One's own dwelling place; the house in which one lives.</def>
<def>One's native land; the place or country in which one dwells.</def><def>The abiding place
of the affections. <ex>For without hearts there is no home.</ex></def><def><dtrn></dtrn>  
at home - make yourself at home - </def> 
<ex>XDXF Home page:
<iref> http://xdxf.sourceforge.net </iref></ex>See also: <kref> home-made </kref></ar>

<ar><k>indices</k>
Plural form of word <kref>index</kref></ar>

<ar><k>disc</k>
<k>disk</k>
<pos><abr>n.</abr></pos>
A flat, circular plate; as, a disk of metal or paper.</ar>

<ar><k>CO<nu><sub></nu>2<nu></sub></nu></k>
Carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) - a heavy odorless gas formed during respiration.</ar>

</xdxf>

Tags

• <xdxf lang_from="XXX" lang_to="XXX" format="FORMAT"> The root element must have 3 attributes. For lang_from and lang_to the value is a 3-letter language code according to ISO 639.2 standand http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/ and represents the language of key-phrases and definitions respectively. The format attribute specifies the default formatting for the dictionary and might be either "visual" or "logical". The default format might be overwritten for specific articles as described below. In visual format, the articles are formatted visually and are intended to be shown by dictionary programs (shells) as is without inserting or removing any spaces or EOLs. However, shells may mark the content of logical tags with different colors. In logical format, the articles are not formatted visually and shells are responsible for formating them before presenting them to the user.

• <full_name> Full name of the dictionary, like it would appear on the book cover. It may contain non-English symbols.
• <description> Description of the dictionary in free words. It is recommended to include the following: Copyright, License, From where this file can be downloaded, From where the unformatted file (i.e. the original dictionary file before the conversion into XDXF format) can be downloaded, From where the original unformatted dictionary file was obtained, Link to the script which was used to convert the original unformatted dictionary file into XDXF format. The description may contain XHTML tags, that are allowed in XDXF and specified below.

• <abbreviations> section is a list of <abr_def> tags. It describes abbreviations used in the dictionary. The <abr_def> tag defines an abbreviation and contains two types of tags:
  • <k> (k stands for key-phrase) The abbreviated text.
  • <v> (v stands for value) The full text.

Note that there may be more than one <k> per <abr_def> to specify synonyms like "Ave." and "Av.", but <v> tag can be only one.

• <ar f="x"> Article tag has one optional attribute 'f' which may have value either "v" or "l" and can be used to overwrite the default dictionary format, which was specified in <xdxf> tag. The <ar> tag groups together all the stuff related to one key-phrase. The following tags are allowed only in between <ar></ar> tags.
  • <k> Key phrase is a phrase by which an article containing it can be found. Article may contain more than one key phrase. Tag <k> may not be nested in another <k>.
  • <opt> Marks optional part of key-phrase, if any. Tag <opt> might be used only in between <k></k> tags.
  • <nu> Marks part of key-phrase that is not used for identification, but affects only the appearance. That is when the key-phrase is visually presented it should include the content of <nu> tag, but for searching and indexing content of <nu> tag should be stripped away. Tag <nu> can be used only in between <k></k> tags.
  • <def> This tag marks a definition or a group of definitions which fall into a certain category. For English language those categories could be parts of speech. For example: noun, verb, adverb, etc. Note that <def> tags can be nested. For articles that have logical format shells may use <def> tag in a similar way as <blockquote> tag is used in HTML, or may also put '1)','2)'... or 1.','2.'... or 'A.','B.'... etc. before each definition, and increase the font size of '1)','2)'... etc. according to the nesting level. The <def> tag is optional. If the article is simple and there is nothing to group - don't use it. In articles with visual format <def> tags do not effect the formatting.
  • <pos> specifies the Part Of Speech like: noun, verb, adverb, etc.
  • <tense> The tense. For example: past, present, future, past participle, etc.
  • <tr> Marks transcription.
  • <dtrn> This tag marks Direct Translation of the key-phrase.
  • <kref> Reference to another key-phrase, which is located in the same file.
  • <rref> Reference to a Resource file, which is located in the same folder. <rref start="xxx" size="xxx"> Optional attributes are necessary for audio and video files, when the reference points to a certain part of a large file. The attribute "start" specifies position in the file of the first byte of the chunk of interest, and "size" specifies its length in bytes. If the "start" attribute is omitted then it is assumed that it is 0. If the "size" attribute is omitted then it is assumed that the file should be played up to the end.
  • <iref href="http://www.somewebsite.com"> Reference to an Internet resource.
  • <abr> Marks an abbreviation that is listed in the <abbreviations> section.
  • <c c="xxxxxx">...</c> (c c stands for Color Code) Marks text with a given color. The syntax for "c" attribute is the same as for "color" attribute of "font" tag in HTML. If the color attribute is omitted, the default color is implied. The default color is chosen by the dictionary program.
  • <ex> Marks the text of an example. (usually shown in a different color by the program)
  • <co> Marks the text of an editorial comment. (comments are usually shown in a different color by the program)
  • <su> Marks a sub-article. Sub-articles are used to represent nested articles. [TODO: Add more description, and an example]

Non XDXF tags

For visually formatted articles in addition to XDXF tags, the following XHTML tags are allowed:

 <sup>, <sub>, <i>, <b>, <tt>, <big>, <small>,  <blockquote>

Their syntax and semantics is the same an in XHTML.

For more information

• http://xdxf.sourceforge.net/