This page is devoted to the subject of application interoperability. It is hoped that this resource can provide useful documentation, examples and training on the various aspects of this wide-ranging subject.

This page is under construction. Over the coming weeks and months more information will be added as we complete it. If you would like to receive email letting you know when any new information is made available then leave your email address.

We are currently completing work on two areas:

• The OSF/Motif 1.2 cut-and-paste mechanism. You will shortly find documentation, code examples, training, data format recommendations and definitions, and a data format registry, all relating to this interoperability standard recently published by the X/Open Company Ltd.
• The OSF/Motif 1.2 drag-and-drop mechanism.

Pointers to commonly used data format definitions (e.g. XPM, HTML) will also be collated here.

Please take the time to fill out our short survey. We would very much like to discover your views about this resource and which specific areas of application interoperability you would like to see covered.

What is Application Interoperability?

Almost every application can benefit from interoperability. Users often require information presented in such a wide variety of ways that no one single application can ever suffice. In recent times, the advent of integrated application suites has shown the usefulness of interoperability, and whetted the appetites of many users. Today, there is an ever increasing demand for data portability between applications, even though the applications are provided by different software houses.

The foundation stone of data portability is data format standardization. The public availability of a well thought out data format standard (and, preferably, source code) leads inevitably to the use of that format by application vendors. The more applications that use the format, the wider the appeal of the format to the user population.

Another essential aspect of interoperability is its interactivity. Although it is sufficient for an application to be able to save information in a common, exchangeable format, it is much more productive for the user if the information is available in a more intuitive way. In the development of the graphical user environment, a number of user gestures have become associated with data transfer: cut-and-paste via a clipboard and drag-and-drop are the principal two.

In recent times a much more sophisticated level of interoperability has evolved. Applications are being designed so that the user can utilise them in a much more natural flow of thought. This is best illustrated by an example. We will take three separate applications: a Scanner application used to control a scanner peripheral and save image files, an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) application, and a Word Processor.

By using data portability standards, a user can use the scanner application to save a scanned image of a paper document to a file, use the OCR application to convert that image into editable text, and then use the Word Processor to actually do the editing. This is a simplistic level of integration.

Now imagine a second scenario. When the OCR application was installed it discovered which Word Processor(s) the user had installed and added a new menu item Acquire Text. Similarly, it discovered which Scanner application was available. When the user selects the new Acquire Text menu item, the Word Processor launches the OCR application to obtain the new text to include into the current document, and the OCR application launches the Scanner application to obtain an image on which to work.

This is not rocket science. This scenario actually exists today (Microsoft Word 6.0, WordScan 3.0 and Hewlett-Packard ScanJet). All that is needed to bring this new scenario to the user is co-operation and standardization between application vendors.

It is hoped that the Interoperability Resource will provide a forum which will promote this co-operative spirit.