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+# Data Formats
+
+Because the DCAE designer composes your component with others at service design time, in most cases you do not know what specific component(s) your component will send data to during runtime. 
+Thus, it is vital that DCAE has a language of describing the data passed between components, so that it is known which components are composable with others. 
+Data formats are descriptions of data---they are the data contract between your component and other components. 
+You need to describe the available outputs and assumed inputs of your components as data formats. 
+These data descriptions are onboarded into ASDC, and each receives a UUID. 
+If component X outputs data format DF-Y, and another component Z specifies DF-Y as their input data format, then X is said to be _composable_ with that component. 
+The data formats are referenced in the component specifications by the data format's id and version.  
+The vision is to have a repository of shared data formats that developers and teams can re-use and also provide them the means to extend and create new custom data formats.
+
+# Meta Schema Definition
+
+The current "Meta Schema" implementation defines how data formats can be written. It requires the name of the data format entry, the data format entry version and allows a description under "self". The meta schema version as "dataformatversion"  must be specified.  Then the schema is described.  There are four types of schema descriptions - jsonschema for inline JSON Schema definitions, delimitedschema for JSON schema descriptions of delimited data, unstructured for unstructured text, and reference that allows a pointer to another artifact for a schema.  The reference allows for XML schema, but can be used for JSON, Delimited Format, and Unstructured formats as well. 
+
+The current implementation is defined by the "format_schema" at the link below.  There are descriptions of each entity:
+
+[schema](ONAP URL TBD)
+
+#TCA Example
+
+TCA Input - Common Event Format by referemce
+
+First the full json schema description of the Commen Event Format would be loaded with a name of "Common Event Format" and the current version of "25.0.0".
+
+Then the data format description is loaded by the example at this link:
+
+[tcainput](ONAP URL TBD)
+
+TCA Output JSON inline example:  (TBD Types ok?)
+
+[tcaoutput](ONAP URL TBD)
+
+#CUDA Example
+
+CUDA Simple JSON Example:
+
+[simplejson](ONAP URL TBD)
+
+CUDA Nested JSON Example:
+
+[nestedjson](ONAP URL TBD)
+
+CUDA Unstructured Example:
+
+[unstructuredtext](ONAP URL TBD)
+
+#A possible example of a delimited schema
+
+```
+{
+    "self": {
+        "name": "Delimited Format Example",
+        "version": "1.0.0",
+        "description": "Delimited format example just for testing"
+
+    },
+    "dataformatversion": "1.0.0",
+    "delimitedschema": {
+        "delimiter": "|",
+        "fields": [{
+            "name": "field1",
+            "description": "test field1",
+            "fieldtype": "string"
+        }, {
+            "name": "field2",
+            "description": "test field2",
+            "fieldtype": "boolean"
+        }]
+    }
+}
+```