Overview
ISO/IEC 10728:1993 - Information technology - Information Resource Dictionary System (IRDS) Services Interface - specifies a programmatic services interface that gives any application full access to IRDS services. The standard defines the semantics of the services interface and provides the language binding for ISO Pascal (ISO 7185). It makes no assumptions about implementation environment or specific run‑time/compile‑time interfaces. ISO/IEC 10728 fits within the IRDS family described in ISO/IEC 10027.
Keywords: ISO/IEC 10728:1993, IRDS, Information Resource Dictionary System, services interface, Pascal binding, IRD Definition Level, IRD Level.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Services interface semantics: Defines how client programs interact with IRDS services regardless of external call interface or runtime.
- Language binding: Specifies the ISO Pascal (ISO 7185) binding for the services interface; bindings for other ISO languages are provided separately.
- Two levels of data: Distinguishes the IRD Definition Level (metadata, schema and dictionary content) and the IRD Level (actual IRD instances).
- Abstract and service data structures: Covers IRD tables, views and data types, including column types, object names and diagnostics areas.
- Service operations: Defines operational and level‑independent services such as Create/Drop IRD Definition, Open/Close IRDS, Prepare/Commit/Rollback, Get Diagnostics, Set Context, Add/Retrieve/Modify/Delete Objects, Open/Close Cursor, Working set management, Reference path management, and Schema validation.
- Version control and working sets: Concepts for object versions, working sets, basing and materialization, content status classes (uncontrolled / controlled / archived), and reference paths.
- Constraints and data integrity: Referential constraints, subtables/supertables, and general rules for constraint expression and enforcement.
- Conformance and implementation scope: Specifies conformance requirements and where implementation behavior is implementation‑defined vs. implementation‑dependent.
Applications and who uses it
ISO/IEC 10728:1993 is relevant to:
- Enterprise architects and data managers designing metadata and data dictionary systems.
- IRDS implementers and vendors building IRDS servers or client libraries.
- Database and configuration management tool developers integrating IRDS services for schema and version control.
- System integrators and standards teams seeking portable, language‑bound access to IRDS services.
Practical benefits include consistent programmatic access to metadata, standardized versioning and working set semantics, and language portability via bindings.
Related standards
For organizations implementing IRDS or integrating metadata services, ISO/IEC 10728:1993 provides the standardized interface and semantics needed for interoperable, language‑bound access to IRD content.