In computing, a compound document is a document that “combines multiple document formats, either by reference, by inclusion, or both.”[1] Compound documents are often produced using word processing software, and may include text and non-text elements such as barcodes, spreadsheets, pictures, digital videos, digital audio, and other multimedia features.
Compound document technologies are commonly utilized on top of a software componentry framework, but the idea of software componentry includes several other concepts apart from compound documents, and software components alone do not enable compound documents. Well-known technologies for compound documents include:
- ActiveX Documents
- Bonobo by Ximian (primarily used by GNOME)
- KParts in KDE
- Mixed Object Document Content Architecture
- Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)
- Object linking and embedding (OLE) by Microsoft; see Compound File Binary Format
- Open Document Architecture from ITU-T (not used)
- OpenDoc by IBM and Apple Computer (now defunct)
- Verdantuim[2]
- XML and XSL are encapsulation formats used for compound documents of all kinds
The first public implementation of compound documents was on the Xerox Star workstation, released in 1981.[3]
See also
- COM Structured Storage
- Transclusion
- Electronic Notebook
References
- ^ Wiggins, Bob (2012). Effective Document and Data Management. Burlington, VT: Gower Publishing Limited. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-4094-2328-7. Retrieved Dec 18, 2020.
- ^ "Verdantium". sourceforge. Retrieved Dec 18, 2020.
- ^ http://www.digibarn.com/collections/systems/xerox-8010/index.html