This is currently version 6.10.4. Minor changes that guarantee downward compatibility are indicated as the third digit of the version number. If, for example, a new data field is added to a table without changing the existing fields, the version is increased from e.g. 6.5.1 to 6.5.2. Changes to the format that require slight changes to the various software packages are specified in the second digit of the version number, e.g. version 6.5.5 to 6.6.0. A new structure and definition of the format (e.g. XML) is specified in version 7.0.0.

The character set in the files described below are text files in the ISO 8859-x character set. (The value for x is defined in the Head.Dat file) (See also “http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8859-1”)

The individual records are separated by the characters CR (ASCII 13) and LF (ASCII 10). There is no fixed record length for better downward compatibility. With a new version of the file format, newly defined data fields are simply appended to the existing structure. Software products that have not yet been adapted to the new file format can therefore still import the new file format.

The records themselves consist of fixed-length fields without separators.

Text fields (type T..) are left-aligned with trailing SPACE (ASCII 32) in the data records.

Numeric values (type 9.. or B) are displayed right-aligned with leading zeros without decimal separators. SPACE is interpreted as “0”. (Exceptions are the price fields in LensPrice.Dat and OptionsPrice.Dat, where Blank is interpreted as “Price on request” for an EK price field and indicates for a VK price field that no rec. VK is available and must be calculated by the optician himself).

Date fields (type D) are displayed in the format year (4 digits), month (2 digits) and day (2 digits) (format YYYYMMDD). Optional fields can be filled with SPACE.

Boolean fields are defined with 0=No and 1=Yes. SPACE is interpreted as “0”. Other definitions are specified under Remarks in the table structure.

For files that have a primary key, the fields that make up this key are marked with an '*'. A primary key may not appear more than once in a file. It is also assumed that the records are sorted according to the primary key.

A product is anything that is identified by a defined and unique manufacturer order code. A distinction is made between basic glass products and aggregate products (coatings). It is assumed that the products defined in this way can be used to transfer ordering processes to the manufacturer's ordering system with the addition of diameter and effect details.

The primary key property must be observed. No file may contain several records with the same primary key. All basic lens codes occurring in the files LensPrice.Dat, Combination.Dat, LensRange.Dat, LensGeo.Dat, Information.Dat, OrderOptions.Dat, ProductGroup.dat, CodeSubstitution.Dat and OeCodes.Dat must have been defined in LensType.Dat, All surcharge codes in the files OptionsColor.Dat, OptionsPrice.Dat, Combination.Dat, LensRange.Dat, Information.Dat, OrderOptions.Dat, ProductGroup.dat, CodeSubstitution.Dat and OeCodes.Dat must be defined in Options.Dat. All surcharge indices used in the OptionsPrice.Dat file must be defined in LensType.Dat. All delivery range indices used in the LensPrice.Dat file must be defined in LensRange.Dat. The product names specified in the files LensType.Dat, Options.Dat, and OptionsColor.Dat must be unique within each file, although not contained in the primary key.