ISO/IEC 20944-3:2013

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 20944-3
First edition
2013-01-15
Information technology — Metadata
Registries Interoperability and Bindings
(MDR-IB) —
Part 3:
API bindings
Technologies de l'information — Interopérabilité et liaisons des registres
de métadonnées (MDR-IB) —
Partie 3: Liaisons API
Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2013
©  ISO/IEC 2013
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
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ii © ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword . v
Introduction . vi
1  Scope . 1
2  Normative references . 1
3  Terms and definitions . 1
4  Intended use of this part of ISO/IEC 20944 . 1
5  Abstract model . 2
5.1  General . 2
5.2  Session paradigm . 2
5.3  Security framework . 3
5.4  Hierarchical navigation paths . 3
6  Services . 4
6.1  Use of ISO/IEC 13886 . 4
6.2  Session establishment services . 4
6.3  Session parameter services . 8
6.4  Security services . 9
6.5  Data transfer services . 11
6.6  Miscellaneous . 21
7  Bindings . 26
8  Administration . 26
9  Conformance . 26
9.1  API conformance paradigm . 26
9.2  API application . 26
9.3  API environment . 26
9.4  Conformance labels . 27
10  Reserved for future standardization . 27
11  C API binding . 27
11.1  Datatype mapping . 27
11.2  Function parameter mapping . 28
11.3  Function return mapping . 28
11.4  Function exception mapping . 28
11.5  Procedure call signatures . 28
11.6  Error/exception returns. 36
11.7  Conformance label prefix . 37
12  Java API binding . 37
12.1  Datatype mapping . 37
12.2  Function parameter mapping . 37
12.3  Function return mapping . 38
12.4  Function exception mapping . 38
12.5  Procedure call signatures . 38
12.6  Error/exception returns. 44
12.7  Conformance label prefix . 45
13  ECMAScript API binding . 45
13.1  Datatype mapping . 45
13.2  Function parameter mapping . 45
© ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved iii

13.3  Function return mapping .46
13.4  Function exception mapping .46
13.5  Procedure call signatures .46
13.6  Error/exception returns .54
13.7  Conformance label prefix .54
Bibliography .55

iv © ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of
ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees
established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC
technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental
and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. In the field of information
technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of the joint technical committee is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as
an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies casting a vote.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/IEC 20944-3 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 32, Data management and interchange.
ISO/IEC 20944 consists of the following parts, under the general title Information technology — Metadata
Registries Interoperability and Bindings (MDR-IB):
 Part 1: Framework, common vocabulary, and common provisions for conformance
 Part 2: Coding bindings
 Part 3: API bindings
 Part 4: Protocol bindings
 Part 5: Profiles
© ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved v

Introduction
The ISO/IEC 20944 series of International Standards provides the bindings and their interoperability for
metadata registries, such as those specified in the ISO/IEC 11179 series of International Standards.
This part of ISO/IEC 20944 contains provisions that are common to API bindings (Clauses 4-10) and the API
bindings themselves (Clause 11 onward). The API bindings have commonality in their conceptualization of the
services provided. For example, common features include:
 using a session paradigm to access data;
 using a parameterized security framework to support a variety of security techniques;
 using a hierarchical navigation for data access.
Clause 11 and onward are the actual API bindings themselves. The clauses of this part of ISO/IEC 20944 are
organized such that future amendments are possible, which would include additional API bindings.

vi © ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 20944-3:2013(E)

Information technology — Metadata Registries Interoperability
and Bindings (MDR-IB) —
Part 3:
API bindings
1 Scope
The ISO/IEC 20944 series of International Standards describes codings, application programming interfaces
(APIs), and protocols for interacting with an ISO/IEC 11179 metadata registry (MDR).
This part of ISO/IEC 20944 specifies provisions that are common across API bindings for the ISO/IEC 20944
series of International Standards, and provides the individual API bindings themselves.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC 9899:1999, Programming languages — C
ISO/IEC 11404:2007, Information technology — General-Purpose Datatypes (GPD)
ISO/IEC 13886:1996, Information technology — Language-Independent Procedure Calling (LIPC)
ISO/IEC 16262, Information technology — Programming languages, their environments and system software
interfaces — ECMAScript language specification
ISO/IEC 20944-1:2013, Information technology — Metadata Registries Interoperability and Bindings
(MDR-IB) — Part 1: Framework, common vocabulary, and common provisions for conformance
IETF RFC 3986, Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax, January 2005
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO/IEC 20944-1 apply.
4 Intended use of this part of ISO/IEC 20944
The purpose of this part of ISO/IEC 20944 is to provide a common set of services (common API provisions)
and standardized API bindings such that portable programs can be written to access the MDR repositories.
These programs are portable in the sense that the same program should behave similarly across all operating
environments and the same program should be able to access MDR repositories that conform to this
International Standard.
© ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved 1

5 Abstract model
5.1 General
The API bindings have commonality in their conceptualization of data access services. For example, common
features include:
 using a session paradigm to access data
 using a parameterized security framework to support a variety of security techniques
 using a hierarchical navigation for data access

5.2 Session paradigm
The following state diagram describes the different states of the services:

The states are:
 initial state: The initial state of an instance of the API.
 end state: The final state of an instance of the API.
 ready: The API is rea
...