ASTM F 1382-92

                        Standard Specification for
        Search and Rescue Computer Software Information Exchange

1. Scope:

This specification covers the basic data formats to be used by search and
rescue computer applicatoins programs (software) for import from and export
to other programs.
Additional data or word processing formats may be supported by search and
rescue programs.

2. Referenced documents:

ASTM standard: E 1013 Terminology relati nto computerized systems
ANSI standard: ANSI X3.4 Information system Codes

3. Terminology:

Definitions:
applications program -  a generic term for a computer program written for a
particular application, possible unique to a particular application.

applications software - the collection of applications programs used on a
given computerized system.

ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A standard for
representing characters and control codes for computers.

data - alphabetic, numeric, or logical information stored, transmitted, 
or otherwise precessed by an applications program.

export - the process of writing data from an applications program for use
by another program.

field - one specific attribute of a record, for example, a missing person's
last name in a subject description record.

file - an aggregate of equivalent records, for example, a missing person
physical description file with separate records for different subjects.
Text files are functionally the same where lines oftext may be considered
records.

import- the process of reading data into an applications program from
another program.

record - one complete item in a file, consisting of an aggregate of fields,
for example, a missing person's physical description where individual fields 
contain first name, middle name, last name, hair color, and the like.

4. Classification:

Two categories of search and rescue applications are covered by this
specification: text processing and data processing.

Text processing applications programs are those which manipulate free-form
text, as commonly found in notes, letters and documents.

Data processing applications programs are those which manipulate formatted
numeric, logical or text fields of a data record, as commonly found in 
spreadsheets and database management systems.

Any given piece of applications software may combine elements of either
type of program. Specifications for information interchange apply to the
particular importing and exporting function.

Applications programs designed to be self-contained and not interchange 
information with other programs are not covered by this standard.


5. General Requirements:

Text processing programs:  Search and rescue applications software capable 
of processing text shall be capable of importing and exporting data according 
to the following specifications:

Consisting of only ASCII characters decimal 32 through 126 (printable
characters) 10 (linefeed), 12 (formfeed) and 13 (carriage return) in
accordance with ANSI X3.4;

A maximum line length of 78 characters, not counting line termination codes; 
and - 
line terminations using a carriage return\line feed combination (decimal 13
and 10, hexadecimal 0D and 0A, ASCII symbolc CR and LF).

Data processing programs-export. Search and rescue applications software
capable of manipulating data other than purely text shall be capable of 
exporting data according to the following specifications:

Consisting only of ASCII characters decimal 32 through 126 (printable 
characters), 10 (linefeed) and 13 (carriage return) in accordance with
ANSI X3.4.
A maximum of 4000 data bytes per record;
A maximum of 128 fields per record;
A maximumn of 254 data bytes for a character field;
A maximum of 1 data byte for a logical field, the character 'T' 
representing a true condition and 'F' representing a false condition;
A maximum of 19 bytes for a numeric field;
each field delimited by a comma (ASCII decimal 44), with an equal number
of fields in each record;
each text field enclosed in double quotes (ASCII decimal 34); and
record termination using a carriage return-linefeed combination 
(decimal 13 and 10, hexadecimal 0D and 0A, ASCII symbols CR and LF).

Data processing programs-export. Search and rescue applications software
capable of manipulating data other than purely text may require imported
data files considerably smaller than the maximums specified above for 
exporting. They shall be capable of importing data following these
specifications:

required file size, field size and number of fields per record no greater
than the maximums allowed for exporting;
each field delimited by a comma (ASCII decimal 44), with an equal number of
fields per record;
each text field enclosed in double quotes (ASCII decimal 34) and;
record termination using a carriage return-linefeed combination (decimal 13 
and 10, hexadecimal 0D and 0A, ASCII symbols CR and LF).

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