Channel Definition Format

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For other uses of "CDF", see CDF (disambiguation).

Channel Definition Format (CDF) is an XML standard used in conjunction with Microsoft Active Channel and Smart Offline Favorites technologies. Its use is to define a website's content and structure. The standard is somewhat similar to the RSS standard introduced by Netscape several years after CDF was introduced in 1997. The standard and Active Channel were introduced with the launch of Internet Explorer 4.0, while Smart Offline Favorites was introduced with the launch of Internet Explorer 5.0.

Active Channel allows websites to be listed and syndicated with the end-users' desktop. Smart Offline Favorites, like channels, enable users to view webpages from the cache.

However, unlike RSS, the idea of Active Channels was not widely accepted and its use was and still is very limited. As a direct result, Microsoft has removed CDF support from Internet Explorer 7.

[edit] Example

A generic CDF file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<CHANNEL HREF="http://domain/folder/pageOne.extension"
  BASE="http://domain/folder/"
  LASTMOD="1998-11-05T22:12"
  PRECACHE="YES"
  LEVEL="0">
    <TITLE>Title of your Channel</TITLE>
    <ABSTRACT>Synopsis of your channel's contents.</ABSTRACT>
    <SCHEDULE>
      <INTERVALTIME DAY="14"/>
    </SCHEDULE>
    <LOGO HREF="wideChannelLogo.gif" STYLE="IMAGE-WIDE"/>
    <LOGO HREF="imageChannelLogo.gif" STYLE="IMAGE"/>
    <LOGO HREF="iconChannelLogo.gif" STYLE="ICON"/>
    <ITEM HREF="pageTwo.extension"
      LASTMOD="1998-11-05T22:12"
      PRECACHE="YES"
      LEVEL="1">
        <TITLE>Page Two's Title</TITLE>
        <ABSTRACT>Synopsis of Page Two's contents.</ABSTRACT>
        <LOGO HREF="pageTwoLogo.gif" STYLE="IMAGE"/>
        <LOGO HREF="pageTwoLogo.gif" STYLE="ICON"/>
    </ITEM>
</CHANNEL>

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


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