Shopinfo.xml
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The shopinfo.xml standard is a XML-based standard to provide shop and product data.
It was developed by Dr. Stefan Kuhlins at the University of Mannheim, Germany. The shopinfo.xml standard allows automating the registration process of online shops with shopping portals, and updating of shop- and product data on a regular basis. By now, there are hundreds of shops registered at the reference implementation Elm@r and with RockBottom®, Shopwahl, Antag, Idealo, PreisRoboter and the “German Shop Directory” (Deutsches Shopverzeichnis) commercial shopping portals already support the shopinfo.xml-Standard.
The standard is based on the shop file named shopinfo.xml containing information about a shop and two interfaces to access product data: on the one hand a product file updated on a regular basis, on the other hand an interface for live queries. The latter uses mechanisms to process HTML forms and allows a selective response to product queries; right at the moment a user asks for it. The advantage of up-to-date information comes along with an increased effort in data transfer. In contrast product files are requested less frequently, i.e. once a day, so that information displayed later possibly might not be up-to-date. But in return they include a shop’s total products. Product files are text files in a CSV format (comma-separated values), that is, every line of text contains a product, whereas the single values for product name, price etc. are separated by commas or by another character. The easiest way to create a product file is using a text editor. Typically, they are created by export routines that come along with the relational databases that most shops use.
The shop file and the responses to live queries are XML documents, for which corresponding XML schemata have been defined. Many software tools exist for the Extended Markup Language (XML), often free of charge. This allows portals to develop standard conform programs for processing shopinfo.xml files in a fast and cost-saving way.
Among other things the shop file contains technical information necessary to access the interface for live queries, and to import the product file. Thus, leaving the choice of implementation to the shop owner, who may use the technologies available on the web server for his online shop.
All that is needed to register a shop with a shopping portal is the URL where the shop file can be found. All relevant information can be extracted from the shopinfo.xml file. Portals should import shop files anew on a regular basis in order to adopt potential changes. Thus, a shop only has to update its shopinfo.xml where required.
The test system for the shopinfo.xml standard is Elm@r, an electronic market (http://elektronischer-markt.de/?lang=en ). The web site includes, among other things, the technical specification of the shopinfo.xml standard and an HTML form allowing shop owners to easily create and edit their shop file. After registering a shop, its products will be included when somebody searches for products. The so-called “extended search” demonstrates that attractive searching options open up, based on the comprehensive information made available through the shopinfo.xml standard: For example, users may search for a certain model of a digital camera, that is available on stock at shops that offer payment via VISA as well as a pickup in the area with zip code 951 (San Jose, CA).
