Overview
ISO/IEC TR 23272:2011 is a Technical Report that supports the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) by explaining and rendering the machine-readable XML specification in ISO 23271 (ECMA‑335), Partition IV: Profiles and Libraries. The report provides a traceable, portable chain from the normative Partition IV XML to human‑readable documents and tool source code that help reviewers, implementers and tool vendors understand the standard library types and their metadata.
Key topics and technical content
- Purpose: aid understanding of the Partition IV XML that defines the types comprising the CLI standard libraries.
- Companion deliverables included with the report:
- Tool source code (C#, XSL) that uses Microsoft .NET and Microsoft Office facilities to convert the Partition IV XML into Microsoft Word documents. The tool can be adapted to generate other views of the XML.
- .DOC files produced by that tool - used by Ecma task groups to review and validate the XML.
- .PDF files created from the Word output for wide portability and consistent printed appearance.
- Coverage of XML-to-document rendering with a documented list of XML nodes that are intentionally omitted or treated specially when producing printable output, for example:
- Name and FullNameSP (redundant with FullName)
- Certain AssemblyInfo nodes (e.g., AssemblyCulture)
- Attribute and Interface Excluded flags (rendered only when inclusion is required)
- Some member parameter/return value FullName fields (implied via signatures)
- Enum value_ fields and alternative-compliance tags (altcompliant, altmember)
- Normative relationship: Partition IV normatively specifies the XML format; this TR is informative and provides tools and formatted outputs to improve traceability and review.
Practical applications and users
- Implementers of CLI runtimes and standard libraries who need a readable representation of the Partition IV XML.
- Compiler, runtime and tooling developers working with ECMA‑335 / CLI metadata and library profiles.
- Standards editors, reviewers and test teams who require printable/exportable views of the machine-readable library specification.
- Documentation and QA teams converting XML metadata into reviewable artifacts (.DOC/.PDF) or adapting the provided tool for custom outputs.
Related standards
- ISO 23271 (ECMA‑335), Partition IV: Profiles and Libraries - the normative XML format this TR interprets and renders.
Keywords: ISO/IEC TR 23272:2011, CLI, Common Language Infrastructure, ECMA‑335, Partition IV, XML, standard libraries, .NET, C#, XSL, tooling, documentation.