FpML Issues Tracker

991: Incorrect URL for an external scheme

October 14, 2009

closed

Minor

Always

Commodities

Admin

iyermakova

Summary

The default URL associated with the 'tzLocationScheme' attribute, 'http://www.fpml.org/coding-scheme/external/tzdatabase', does not follow the pattern specified in the Architecture specification for external URL's.

A better URL would be something like 'http://www.fpml.org/ext/timezone-location'. In addition the name of the attribute itself should be changed to 'timezoneLocationScheme' rather than use an abbreviation.

Notes:

  • mgratacos

    10/15/09 12:52 pm

    I agree with Andrew that the URI and scheme attribute should be corrected but I think the URI should still contain /coding-scheme/external. So it should be corrected to http://www.fpml.org/coding-scheme/external/timezone-location

  • mgratacos

    10/15/09 12:53 pm

    The scheme attribute should be corrected as Andrew suggests.

  • owenking

    10/15/09 1:12 pm

    Though I don’t have a strong opinion on this, the reason why tz was used rather than timezone is that the standard is commonly known as the “tz database” (http://www.twinsun.com/tz/tz-link.htm) and in my view this name made the attribute more specific.

    Happy to defer to the majority view here however.

  • mgratacos

    10/15/09 2:13 pm

    Thanks, Owen.

    Then I think we should keep the default URI to be specific to the TZ Database http://www.fpml.org/coding-scheme/external/tzdatabase since this is our default list but make the type and attribute more generic (TimezoneLocation and timezoneLocationScheme) since the TZ Database could be overwritten by other lists.

  • andrew

    10/15/09 2:47 pm

    I’m not convinced that the twinsun URL is the best source for this information. It’s a source for standard timezone codes used for time keeping rather than electricity delivery.

    For example I could find no mention of the ‘prevailing time’ codes commonly used in US power contracts (e.g. PPT Pacific Prevailing Time, MPT, EPT, etc.).

    Personally I think FpML should provide its own scheme for these codes as I don’t recall them being published anywhere useful.

  • owenking

    10/15/09 4:08 pm

    I sympathise with Andrew’s comment but feel that the TZ standard is preferable for a number of reasons (outlined below). What is intended here is the representation of a location that will be present alongside a time to indicate the location at which that time prevails.

    1. It is an established, widely-used standard – for example in the freight and transport industries. This removes the maintenance burden from ISDA and allows users to benefit from a standard that is maintained by a number of active contributors who have a direct interest in making it accurate.

    2. It provides guidance on which cities to use for common “prevailing timezones” such as MST, Eastern Time etc to avoid ambiguity.

    3. It allows relatively effortless expansion into new markets as trading in those regions become standardised.

    4. MarkitSERV already has financial and physical power implementations that use the TZ standard within FpML.

    Given that FpML is considered fairly complex by a number of institutions in asset classes for which it has yet to become firmly established I do think these reasons make it a sensible choice.

  • mgratacos

    10/19/09 1:19 pm

    We discussed this issue at the Standards Committee call today (October 19, 2009). There was agreement to keep the default URI to be specific to the TZ Database http://www.fpml.org/coding-scheme/external/tzdatabase since this is our default list but make the type and attribute more generic (TimezoneLocation and timezoneLocationScheme) since the TZ Database could be overwritten by other lists.

  • iyermakova

    10/19/09 7:21 pm

    1.1. Made the type and attribute more generic by renaming
    – the type “TZLocation” to “TimezoneLocation”
    – the attribute “tzLocationScheme” to “timezoneLocationScheme”
    1.2. Within “PrevailingTime” complex type, “location” element’s type has changed from “TZLocation” to “TimezoneLocation”

    The change is committed to:
    – to be re-published 4.6 (branches/FpML-4-6),
    – 4.7 (trunk/),
    – 5.0 (branches/FpML-5-0)

  • iyermakova

    10/22/09 7:15 pm

    Errata for 4.6 Recommendation build 6 has been issued.
    4.6 Recommendation build 7 has been published correcting the mistakes in the build 6 described in this above

  • write2nikhil

    12/14/15 6:46 am

    I see the attribute update to TimezoneLocation in latest published guidance XML Schema “fpml-shared-5-8.xsd”. Can anyone point to the actual enumeration of valid TimezoneLocations values to be used – as the external reference http://www.fpml.org/coding-scheme/external/tzdatabase is deprecated. 

  • iyermakova

    10/02/18 9:31 pm

    The issue is closed – see the answers to this issue below:
    1. The current TimezoneLocation type’s name, attribute name and the scheme’s name follow the pattern specified in the Architecture specification for external URL’s.

    <xsd:complexType name=”TimezoneLocation”>
    <xsd:annotation>
    <xsd:documentation xml:lang=”en”>A geophraphic location for the purposes of defining a prevailing time according to the tz database.</xsd:documentation>
    </xsd:annotation>
    <xsd:simpleContent>
    <xsd:extension base=”Scheme”>
    <xsd:attribute name=”timezoneLocationScheme” type=”NonEmptyURI” default=”http://www.fpml.org/coding-scheme/external/tzdatabase” />
    </xsd:extension>
    </xsd:simpleContent>
    </xsd:complexType>

    2. The correct source of the http://www.fpml.org/coding-scheme/external/tzdatabase is a URI, the actual source of the external tz database is https://www.iana.org/time-zones

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