Version 2.2 Release Notes

NOTE: The documentation found on these web pages has been updated to Version 2.2.2. To see a summary of the changes in V2.2.1 and V2.2.2 see the following release notes respectively: Version 2.2.1 Update Notice, V2.2.2 Release.

This is the final release of Version 2.2 of the POSC specifications. You may email your comments on both the content and style of the specifications to help@posc.org. For additional contact information, see How to Contact POSC.

Problems found with Version 2.2 after its publication will be documented on the Version 2.2 Errata page at the POSC web site.

Additional tools and documentation aids that were not complete at the time of publication will be made available as supplemental files at a later date. See Coming Attractions for details.

Getting Started/Document Navigation

To view the Version 2.2 documentation you will need an HTML browser that supports HTML 3.0 and Javascript 1.1, e.g., Internet Explorer 3.02 (with JScript v2.0 upgrade), 4.0x, or up; Netscape 3.0x or up, and Netscape Communicator 4.0x or up. Start your web browser and open the file in the top level directory of the CD. (NOTE: Under Windows 95, if you have AutoPlay enabled, this file will be displayed automatically when you insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive.)

The Version 2.2 documentation uses a multi-frame display which provides a large viewing window above smaller document control windows. One of the document control windows provides a pick list for the components of these Specifications. When selecting a component from this list, the buttons in the other document control window will change to allow access to the specific documents for that component of the Specifications. The major document layout features are shown in the illustration below.

The following is a list of the components and documents accessible from these windows:

Introduction
- Release Notes
- Overview
- Changes
- License
- Order Form
- Errata
Data Model
- Logical Model
- ER Diagrams
- Usage Guide
- Express-I Examples
- Changes
- Std Values
- Methodology
- Subject Discussions
- Subsetting and Extension
DAE
- DAE Model
- DAE Specification
- Application Development
- Administration
- Compatibility Layer
Data Exchange
- Exchange Format
- Exchange Operations
- Exchange Operations Model
Implementation
- Getting Started
- Overview
- Dictionary/DDL
- Meta Model
- Test Data
- DDL Sources
- Projection Tool
- Software Setup
IAC
- InterApplication Communication
CGM*PIP
- CGM*PIP/I & II
- CGM*PIP/III & IV
ER Diagrams
- Data Model
- DAE Model
- DAE Exchange Model
- Relational Meta Model
EXPRESS
- Data Model
- DAE Model
- DAE Exchange Model
- Relational Meta Model
- Express Source Code
Help
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Help for Logical Dictionary
- Help for Relational Dictionary
- Help for ER Diagrams
- Help for Express-I Files
- Help for Standard Instance Tables
Viewing Options
- - menu windows on left
- - menu windows on top
- - menu windows on right

Deliverables

Files

The text files for the logical model and sample implementations of the Data Model and Data Access specifications may be found at:

EXPRESS Files ($CD:\Files\Express\*.exp)
DDL Files ($CD:\Files\ddl\*.ddl)
Compatibility Layer Sample Implementation Source Code
Projection Tool Source Code

where $CD represents the local compact disk (CD) drive.

Format

Minimum requirement for the Web browser - The browser must support Javascript 1.1 and HTML frames:

Netscape - must have Javascript enabled:
- Navigator 3.0 or up or
- Communicator 4.0 or up.
Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) - must have ActiveScript enabled:
- MSIE 3.02 with JScript 2.0 engine upgrade (Compatible to Javascript v1.1) or
- MSIE 4.0 or up.
MS Windows 3.x:
- You cannot install these files on a Windows 3.x disk and browse them locally because the Windows 3.1 file system does not support long file names. However, you can use UNIX, Windows 95 or Windows NT as servers and access the files from a Windows 3.x client using the HTTP protocol (see restriction below).
- Web browsers under Windows 3.1 may not work for browsing some ER diagrams because of the 64KB segment limitation.

Files of the following types are included in this release:

HTML - version 3.0
PDF for parts of CGM*PIP for high-quality printing (in addition to HTML)
Plain ASCII text files for EXPRESS, DDL
Source code as compressed tar files using gzip
Haddock test database dumps as compressed files (except the Informix dump, which was tar'ed first) using gzip

File Naming Convention:

long directory and file names (not the DOS 8.3 convention)
directory names: MixedCaseWithoutUnderbars
file names: lower_case_with_underbars

Distribution/Ordering

The written documentation from this release is available on the POSC web site http://www.posc.org/Epicentre.2_2. The full release, including sample implementations and dump files of test databases, is available on CD. Complete the Order Form to place an online order for the full release on CD-ROM, 8mm tape or 4mm tape (you must be connected to the internet for this to work).

License

All of the items included in this distribution are licensed to you under the terms and conditions of the agreement found in the POSC Software License Agreement.

Work Plan

Guidelines

The guidelines for scope and content that we used to determine what to include in the release are as follows:

Compatible with v2.1 where possible
Requested by member or alliance
Within scope of existing topics
Bug fix or elimination of redundancy
Better performance
Timely and testable

Customer Expectations

This was our understanding of our customer expectations:

Improve the ease of use
Improve the effectiveness
No new topic areas
Delivered within an acceptable timeframe

Benefits Delivered

Benefits delivered in this release:

Bug fixes galore
Improvements compatible with v2.1
Alliance driven improvements
Complete documentation in HTML
More examples and standard values
Web-based distribution
Progress reports

Schedule of Deliverables

Beta Release: September 1997
Beta 2 Release: October 1997
General Release: December 1997