TOSV Format

TOSV Format

What is the format

the TOSV format is a human readable way of communicating data between systems its based of of tab separated data  and can be used in csv based editors and can be copied and pasted between systems without needing to export

Why was it created
the format was created to make communicating data easier when people are involved in the hand-off.

Examples of the format

this example is used to create a purchase order on the client portal.

referenceId

what our external system calls this order

address

the completed address for where this order will be coming from 

lines

the collection of lines making up the order
note the indentation of this data is of high importance
this example will create an order Ref#1233 that will be shipped from 123 main street pobox 12, new york ny 10030 and contains sku-0001-sku-0005 at various quantites
referenceId












1233













address
companyName
contactName
address1
address2
city
region
postalCode
countryCode
stateCode
phoneNumer
emailAddress


Test company
name
123 main street
po 12
New York

10030 
US
NY
123-456-7890
address@em.com

lines
sku
quantity
LineNumber










SKU-0001
1
1










SKU-0002
2
2










SKU-0003
1
3










SKU-0004
1
4










SKU-0005
2
5








How to use the format

the system you are exporting or importing into should have example documents on what the file should look like, copy these into an editor like excel and modify the values in the fields, if new lines are needed ensure they appear similar to the lines already given in the example.

Break Down (format information)

The format uses a couple of principles 
1) everything is a list, 
2) objects can be represented in 2 ways
      a) an entity that has fields in it ex referenceid,order#,totalprice etc.
      b) an object may have sub properties ex address,lines, 
      c) an object can be both a and b
3) newlines then tabs are used when nesting a layer down  (in the above example address is 1 tab to the right of the first property)
4) additional sub objects are started at the same column
5) subdata starts one tab in to the identifier ex company name is one tab to the right of the address name
6) subdata ends when the serializer runs into a property on the key column ex address ends when