URC Templates

This page indexes the User Interface Socket Description templates published by the openURC Alliance. Each template defines a standard set of variables, commands and notifications for a particular class of service, allowing controllers and targets developed by different parties to interoperate without prior coordination. Templates are companions to the URC framework defined by ISO/IEC 24752 and are intended to be referenced by the <dc:source> element in conforming socket descriptions.

Templates are published as Draft Technical Reports during the development phase and as Approved Technical Reports once the openURC Technical Committee has confirmed that the template has reached interoperability maturity. Both states are listed below; implementers are advised to track the latest version of each template through the openURC repository.

Using Templates

To conform to a template, a service’s socket description must reference the template through the Dublin Core source element and contain all of the mandatory variables, commands and notifications defined by the template. Optional elements may be included or omitted as the service requires. Implementers may extend a template with additional elements, provided that the extensions do not change the semantics of the template elements.

The master documents for each template are stored in the openURC Resource Server and may be retrieved using the operations defined in Resource Server HTTP Interface 1.0. Controllers that want to support a template can download the master socket description, generate a default user interface from it, and use that interface to communicate with any conforming service.