Specify dimension list at beginning of data.

[pspp] / spv-file-format.texi

@node SPSS Viewer Format
@section SPSS Viewer Format

SPSS Viewer or @file{.spv} files, here called SPV files, are written
by SPSS 16 and later to represent the contents of its output editor.
This section documents the format.  This description is detailed
enough to read SPV files, but it is probably not sufficient to
write them.

An an aside, SPSS 15 and earlier versions use a completely different
output format based on the Microsoft Compound Document Format.  This
format is not documented.

An SPV file is a Zip archive that can be read with @command{zipinfo}
and @command{unzip} and similar programs.  The final member in the Zip
archive is a file named @file{META-INF/MANIFEST.MF}.  This structure
makes SPV files resemble Java ``JAR'' files, but whereas a JAR
manifest contains a sequence of colon-delimited key/value pairs, an
SPV manifest contains the string @samp{allowPivoting=true}, without a
new-line.

The rest of the members in an SPV file's Zip archive fall into two
categories: structure and details.  ``Structure'' member names begin
with @file{outputViewer@var{nnnnnnnnnn}}, where each @var{n} is a
decimal digit, and end with @file{.xml}, and often include the string
@file{_heading} in between.  Each of these members represents some
kind of output item (a table, a heading, a block of text, etc.) or a
group of them.  The member whose output goes at the beginning of the
document is numbered 0, the next member in the output is numbered 1,
and so on.

Structure members contain XML.  This XML is sometimes self-contained,
but it often references other members in the Zip archive named as
follows:

@table @asis
@item @file{@var{prefix}_table.xml} and @file{@var{prefix}_tableData.bin}
@itemx @file{@var{prefix}_lightTableData.bin}
The structure of a table plus its data.  Older SPV files pair a
@file{@var{prefix}_table.xml} file that describes the table's
structure with a binary @file{@var{prefix}_tableData.bin} file that
gives its data.  Newer SPV files (the majority of those in the corpus)
instead include a single @file{@var{prefix}_lightTableData.bin} file
that incorporates both into a single binary format.

@item @file{@var{prefix}_warning.xml} and @file{@var{prefix}_warningData.bin}
@itemx @file{@var{prefix}_lightWarningData.bin}
Same format used for tables, with a different name.

@item @file{@var{prefix}_notes.xml} and @file{@var{prefix}_notesData.bin}
@itemx @file{@var{prefix}_lightNotesData.bin}
Same format used for tables, with a different name.

@item @file{@var{prefix}_chartData.bin} and @file{@var{prefix}_chart.xml}
The structure of a chart plus its data.  Charts do not have a
``light'' format.

@item @var{prefix}_model.xml
@itemx @var{prefix}_pmml.xml
@itemx @var{prefix}_stats.xml
Not yet investigated.  The corpus contains only one example of each.
@end table

The @file{@var{prefix}} in the names of the detail members is
typically an 11-digit decimal number that increases for each item,
tending to skip values.  Older SPV files use different naming
conventions.  Structure member refer to detail members by name, and so
their exact names do not appear to matter as long as they are unique.

@node SPV Structure Member Format
@subsection Structure Member Format

Structure members XML files claim conformance with a collection of XML
Schemas.  These schemas are distributed, under a nonfree license, with
SPSS binaries.  Fortunately, the schemas are not necessary to
understand the structure members.  To a degree, the schemas can even
be deceptive because they document elements and attributes that are
not in the corpus and lack documentation of elements and attributes
that are commonly found in the corpus.

Structure members use a different XML namespace for each schema, but
these namespaces are not entirely consistent: in some SPV files, for
example, the @code{viewer-tree} schema is associated with namespace
@indicateurl{http://xml.spss.com/spss/viewer-tree} and in other with
@indicateurl{http://xml.spss.com/spss/viewer/viewer-tree} (note the
additional @file{viewer/} directory.  In any case, the schema URIs are
not resolvable to obtain the schemas themselves.

One may ignore all of the above in interpreting a structure member.
The actual XML has a simple and straightforward form that does not
require a reader to take schemas or namespaces into account.

@table @code
@item heading
Parent: Document root or @code{heading} @*
Contents: [@code{pageSetup}] @code{label} [@code{container} | @code{heading}]*

The root of a structure member is a @code{heading}, which represents a
section of output beginning with a title (the @code{label}) and
ordinarily followed by content containers or further nested
(sub)-sections of output.

The document root heading may also contain a @code{pageSetup} element.

The following attributes have been observed on both document root and
nested @code{heading} elements:

@table @asis
@item Optional attribute: @code{creator-version}
The version of the software that created this SPV file.  A string of
the form @code{xxyyzzww} represents software version xx.yy.zz.ww,
e.g.@: @code{21000001} is version 21.0.0.1.  Trailing pairs of zeros
are sometimes omitted, so that @code{21}, @code{210000}, and
@code{21000000} are all version 21.0.0.0 (and the corpus contains all
three of those forms).
@end table

The following attributes have been observed on document root
@code{heading} elements only:

@table @asis
@item Optional attribute: @code{creator}
The directory of the software that created this SPV file,
e.g. @file{C:\PROGRA~1\IBM\SPSS\STATIS~1\22} or
@file{/Applications/IBM/SPSS/Statistics/22/SPSSStatistics.app/Contents/Resources/Java/../../bin}.

@item Optional attribute: @code{creation-date-time}
The date and time at which the SPV file was written, in a
locale-specific format, e.g. @code{Friday, May 16, 2014 6:47:37 PM
PDT} or @code{lunedì 17 marzo 2014 3.15.48 CET} or even @code{Friday,
December 5, 2014 5:00:19 o'clock PM EST}.

@item Optional attribute: @code{lockReader}
Whether a reader should be allowed to edit the output.  The possible
values are @code{true} and @code{false}, but the corpus only contains
@code{false}.

@item Optional attribute: @code{schemaLocation}
This is actually an XML Namespace attribute.  A reader may ignore it.
@end table

The following attributes have been observed only on nested
@code{heading} elements:

@table @asis
@item Required attribute: @code{commandName}
The locale-invariant name of the command that produced the output,
e.g.@: @code{Frequencies}, @code{T-Test}, @code{Non Par Corr}.

@item Optional attribute: @code{visibility}
To what degree the output represented by the element is visible.  The
only observed value is @code{collapsed}.

@item Optional attribute: @code{locale}
The locale used for output, in Windows format, which is similar to the
format used in Unix with the underscore replaced by a hyphen, e.g.@:
@code{en-US}, @code{en-GB}, @code{el-GR}, @code{sr-Cryl-RS}.

@item Optional attribute: @code{olang}
The output language, e.g.@: @code{en}, @code{it}, @code{es},
@code{de}, @code{pt-BR}.
@end table

@item label
Parent: @code{heading} or @code{container} @*
Contents: text

Every @code{heading} and @code{container} holds a @code{label} as its
first child.  The root @code{heading} in a structure member always
contains the string ``Output''.  Otherwise, the text in @code{label}
describes what it labels, often by naming the statistical procedure
that was executed, e.g.@: ``Frequencies'' or ``T-Test''.  Labels are
often very generic, especially within a @code{container}, e.g.@:
``Title'' or ``Warnings'' or ``Notes''.  Label text is localized
according to the output language, e.g. in Italian a frequency table
procedure is labeled ``Frequenze''.

The corpus contains one example of an empty label, one that contains
no text.

@item container
Parent: @code{heading} @*
Contents: @code{label} [@code{table} | @code{text}]

A @code{container} serves to label a @code{table} or a @code{text}
item.

@table @asis
@item Required attribute: @code{visibility}
Either @code{visible} or @code{hidden}, this indicates whether the
container's content is displayed.

@item Optional attribute: @code{text-align}
Presumably indicates the alignment of text within the container.  The
only observed value is @code{left}.  Observed with nested @code{table}
and @code{text} elements.

@item Optional attribute: @code{width}
The width of the container in the form @code{@var{n}px}, e.g.@:
@code{1097px}.
@end table

@item text
Parent: @code{container} @*
Contents: @code{html}

This @code{text} element is nested inside a @code{container}.  There
is a different @code{text} element that is nested inside a
@code{pageParagraph}.

@table @asis
@item Required attribute: @code{type}
One of @code{title}, @code{log}, or @code{text}.

@item Optional attribute: @code{commandName}
As on the @code{heading} element.  For output not specific to a
command, this is simply @code{log}.  The corpus contains one example
of where @code{commandName} is present but set to the empty string.

@item Optional attribute: @code{creator-version}
As on the @code{heading} element.
@end table

@item html
Parent: @code{text} @*
Contents: cdata

The cdata contains an HTML document.  In some cases, the document
starts with @code{<html>} and ends with @code{</html}; in others the
@code{html} element is implied.  Generally the HTML includes a
@code{head} element with a CSS stylesheet.  The HTML body often begins
with @code{<BR>}.  The actual content ranges from trivial to simple:
just discarding the CSS and tags yields readable results.

@table @asis
@item Required attribute: @code{lang}
This always contains @code{en} in the corpus.
@end table

@item table
Parent: @code{container} @*
Contents: @code{tableStructure}

@table @asis
@item Required attribute: @code{commandName}
As on the @code{heading} element.

@item Required attribute: @code{type}
One of @code{table}, @code{note}, or @code{warning}.

@item Required attribute: @code{subType}
The locale-invariant name for the particular kind of output that this
table represents in the procedure.  This can be the same as
@code{commandName} e.g.@: @code{Frequencies}, or different, e.g.@:
@code{Case Processing Summary}.  Generic subtypes @code{Notes} and
@code{Warnings} are often used.

@item Required attribute: @code{tableId}
A number that uniquely identifies the table within the SPV file,
typically a large negative number such as @code{-4147135649387905023}.

@item Optional attribute: @code{creator-version}
As on the @code{heading} element.  In the corpus, this is only present
for version 21 and up and always includes all 8 digits.
@end table

@item tableStructure
Parent: @code{table}
Contents: @code{dataPath}

@item dataPath
Parent: @code{tableStructure}
Contents: text

Contains the name of the Zip member that holds the table details,
e.g.@: @code{0000000001437_lightTableData.bin}.

@item pageSetup
Parent: @code{heading} @*
Contents: @code{pageHeader} @code{pageFooter}

@table @asis
@item Required attribute: @code{initial-page-number}
Always @code{1}.

@item Optional attribute: @code{chart-size}
Always @code{as-is} or a localization (!) of it (e.g.@: @code{dimensione
attuale}, @code{Wie vorgegeben}).

@item Optional attribute: @code{margin-left}
@itemx Optional attribute: @code{margin-right}
@itemx Optional attribute: @code{margin-top}
@itemx Optional attribute: @code{margin-bottom}
Margin sizes in the form @code{@var{size}in}, e.g.@: @code{0.25in}.

@item Optional attribute: @code{paper-height}
@itemx Optional attribute: @code{paper-width}
Paper sizes in the form @code{@var{size}in}, e.g.@: @code{8.5in} by
@code{11in} for letter paper or @code{8.267in} by @code{11.692in} for
A4 paper.

@item Optional attribute: @code{reference-orientation}
Always @code{0deg}.

@item Optional attribute: @code{space-after}
Always @code{12pt}.
@end table

@item pageHeader
@itemx pageFooter
Parent: @code{pageSetup} @*
Contents: @code{pageParagraph}*

No attributes.

@item pageParagraph
Parent: @code{pageHeader} or @code{pageFooter} @*
Contents: @code{text}

Text to go at the top or bottom of a page, respectively.

@item text
Parent: @code{pageParagraph} @*
Contents: [cdata]

This @code{text} element is nested inside a @code{pageParagraph}.  There
is a different @code{text} element that is nested inside a
@code{container}.

The element is either empty, or contains cdata that holds almost-XHTML
text: in the corpus, either an @code{html} or @code{p} element.  It is
@emph{almost}-XHTML because the @code{html} element designates the
default namespace as
@code{http://xml.spss.com/spss/viewer/viewer-tree} instead of an XHTML
namespace.

The cdata can contain substitution variables: @code{&[Page]} for the
page number and @code{&[PageTitle]} for the page title.

Typical contents (indented for clarity):

@example
<html xmlns="http://xml.spss.com/spss/viewer/viewer-tree">
    <head></head>
    <body>
        <p style="text-align:right; margin-top: 0">Page &[Page]</p>
    </body>
</html>
@end example

@table @asis
@item Required attribute: @code{type}
Always @code{text}.
@end table
@end table

@node SPV Light Detail Member Format
@subsection Light Detail Member Format

A ``light'' detail member @file{.bin} consists of a number of sections
concatenated together, terminated by a byte 01:

@example
light-member := header title styles dimensions data 01
@end example

The first section is a 0x27-byte header:

@example
header := 01 00 version 01 (00 | 01) byte*21 00 00 table-id byte*4
version := i1 | i3
table-id := int
@end example

@code{header} includes @code{version}, a version number that affects
the interpretation of some of the other data in the member.  We will
refer to ``version 1'' and ``version 3'' members later on.  It also
@code{table-id} is a binary version of @code{tableId} attribute in the
structure member that refers to the detail member.  For example, if
@code{tableId} is @code{-4154297861994971133}, then @code{table-id}
would be 0xdca00003.  The meaning of the other variable parts of the
header is not known.

@example
title := value 01?              /* @r{localized title} */
         value 01? 31           /* @r{subtype} */
         value 01? 00? 58       /* @r{locale-invariant title} */
         (31 value | 58)        /* @r{caption} */
         int[n] footnote*[n]    /* @r{footnotes} */
footnote := value (31 value | 58) byte*4
@end example

@example
styles := 00 font*8
          int[x1] byte*[x1]
          int[x2] byte*[x2]
          int[x3] byte*[x3]
          int[x4] int*[x4]
          string[encoding]
          (i0 | i-1) (00 | 01) 00 (00 | 01)
          int
          byte[decimal] byte[grouping]
          int[x5] string*[x5]    /* @r{custom currency} */
          int[x6] byte*[x6]
@end example

In every example in the corpus, @code{x1} is 240.  The meaning of the
bytes that follow it is unknown.

In every example in the corpus, @code{x2} is 18 and the bytes that
follow it are @code{00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00
00}.  The meaning of these bytes is unknown.

Observed values of @code{x3} vary from 16 to 150.  The bytes that
follow it vary somewhat.

Observed values of @code{x4} vary from 0 to 17.  Out of 7060 examples
in the corpus, it is nonzero only 36 times.

@code{encoding} is a character encoding, usually a Windows code page
such as @code{en_US.windows-1252} or @code{it_IT.windows-1252}.  The
encoding string is itself encoded in US-ASCII.  The rest of the
character strings in the file use this encoding.

@code{decimal} is the decimal point character.  The observed values
are @samp{.} and @samp{,}.

@code{grouping} is the grouping character.  The observed values are
@samp{,}, @samp{.}, @samp{'}, @samp{ }, and zero (presumably
indicating that digits should not be grouped).

@code{x5} is observed as either 0 or 5.  When it is 5, the following
strings are CCA through CCE format strings.  Most commonly these are
all @code{-,,,} but other strings occur.

@example
font := byte[index] 31 string[typeface]
        00 00
        (10 | 20 | 40 | 50 | 70 | 80)[f1]
        41
        (i0 | i1 | i2)[f2]
        00
        (i0 | i2 | i64173)[f3]
        (i0 | i1 | i2 | i3)[f4]
        string[fgcolor] string[bgcolor]
        i0 i0 00
        (v3: int[f5] int[f6] int[f7] int[f8])
@end example

Each @code{font}, in order, represents the font style for a different
element: title, caption, footnote, row labels, column labels, corner
labels, data, and layers.

@code{index} is the 1-based index of the @code{font}, i.e. 1 for the
first @code{font}, through 8 for the final @code{font}.

@code{typeface} is the string name of the font.  In the corpus, this
is @code{SansSerif} in over 99% of instances and @code{Times New
Roman} in the rest.

@code{fgcolor} and @code{bgcolor} are the foreground color and
background color, respectively.  In the corpus, these are always
@code{#000000} and @code{#ffffff}, respectively.

The meaning of the remaining data is unknown.  It seems likely to
include font sizes, horizontal and vertical alignment, attributes such
as bold or italic, and margins.  @code{f1} is @code{40} most of the
time.  @code{f2} is @code{i1} most of the time for the title and
@code{i0} most of the time for other fonts.

The table below lists the values observed in the corpus.  When a cell
contains a single value, then 99+% of the corpus contains that value.
When a cell contains a pair of values, then the first value is seen in
about two-third of the corpus and the second value in about the
remaining one-third.  In fonts that include multiple pairs, values are
correlated, that is, for font 3, f5 = 24, f6 = 24, f7 = 2 appears
about two-thirds of the time, as does the combination of f4 = 0, f6 =
10 for font 7.

@example
font  f1  f2     f3   f4     f5    f6  f7  f8

   1  40   1      0    0      8 10/11   1   8
   2  40   0      2    1      8 10/11   1   1
   3  40   0      2    1  24/11 24/ 8 2/3   4
   4  40   0      2    3      8 10/11   1   1
   5  40   0      0    1      8 10/11   1   4
   6  40   0      2    1      8 10/11   1   4
   7  40   0  64173  0/1      8 10/11   1   1
   8  40   0      2    3      8 10/11   1   4
@end example

@example
dimensions := int[n-dims] dimension*[n-dims]
dimension := value[name]
             byte[d1]
             (00 | 01 | 02)[d2]
             (i0 | i2)[d3]
             (00 | 01)[d4]
             (00 | 01)[d5]
             01
             int[d6]
             int[n-categories] category*[n-categories]
@end example

@code{name} is the name of the dimension, e.g. @code{Variables},
@code{Statistics}, or a variable name.

@code{d1} is usually 0 but many other values have been observed.

@code{d3} is 2 over 99% of the time.

@code{d5} is 0 over 99% of the time.

@code{d6} is either -1 or the 0-based index of the dimension, e.g.@: 0
for the first dimension, 1 for the second, and so on.  The latter is
the case 98% of the time in the corpus.

@example
category := value[name] (terminal | group)
terminal-category := 00 00 00 i2 int[index] i0
@end example

@code{name} is the name of the category (or group).

@code{category} can represent a terminal category.  In that case,
@code{index} is a nonnegative integer less than @code{n-categories} in
the @code{dimension} in which the @code{category} is nested (directly
or indirectly).

Alternatively, @code{category} can represent a @code{group} of nested
categories:

@example
group := (00 | 01)[merge] 00 01 (i0 | i2)[data]
         i-1 int[n-subcategories] category*[n-subcategories]
@end example

Ordinarily a group has some nested content, so that
@code{n-subcategories} is positive, but a few instances of groups with
@code{n-subcategories} 0 has been observed.

If @code{merge} is 00, the most common value, then the group is really
a distinct group that should be represented as such in the visual
representation and user interface.  If @code{merge} is 01, however,
the categories in this group should be shown and treated as if they
were direct children of the group's parent group (or if it has no
parent group, then direct children of the dimension), and this group's
name is irrelevant and should not be displayed.  (Merged groups can be
nested!)

@code{data} appears to be i2 when all of the categories within a group
are terminal categories that directly represent data values for a
variable (e.g. in a frequency table or crosstabulation, a group of
values in a variable being tabulated) and i0 otherwise, but this might
be naive.

@example
data := int[layers] int[rows] int[columns] int*[n-dimensions]
@end example

The values of @code{layers}, @code{rows}, and @code{columns} each
specifies the number of dimensions represented in layers or rows or
columns, respectively, and their values sum to the number of
dimensions.

The @code{n-dimensions} integers are a permutation of the 0-based
dimension numbers.  The first @code{layers} of them specify each of
the dimensions represented by layers, the next @code{rows} of them
specify the dimensions represented by rows, and the final
@code{columns} of them specify the dimensions represented by columns.
When there is more than one dimension of a given kind, the inner
dimensions are given first.