Object Data Instance Notation (ODIN) STABLE

Object Data Instance Notation: a human-readable serialisation syntax for structured data trees. Used in archetype header sections, configuration files, and wherever structured data must be authored and exchanged in plain text. ODIN supports nested object graphs, typed attributes, and list values, making it expressive enough for complex archetype header metadata and BMM schema files. It is human-editable without specialised tooling and is designed to be more readable than XML or JSON for structured configuration data.

Purpose

This document describes the syntax of the Object Data Instance Notation (ODIN), previously known as the 'dADL' syntax from the openEHR ADL specifications. It is intended for software developers, technically-oriented domain specialists and subject matter experts (SMEs). ODIN is designed as a human-readable and computer-processible data representation syntax, and can be hand-edited using a normal text editor.

Nomenclature

In this document, the term 'attribute' denotes any stored property of a type defined in an object model, including primitive attributes and any kind of relationship such as an association or aggregation. Where XML is mentioned, XML 'attributes' are always referred to explicitly as 'XML attributes'.

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To see changes made due to previously reported issues, see the LANG component Change Request tracker.