Schema documentation
This page aims at clarifying the various elements of the schema, as well as their intended use and observed usage.
IDS
The identification numbers from sources of information.
It has the following child element:
-
ID
The sources of information used for the metadata.
The
primary
attribute is used to identify the primary source of information used in the xml document. Only one element can have this attribute betrue
.The
source
attribute is required and has to be one of the following:- AniList
- Comic Vine
- Grand Comics Database
- Kitsu
- MangaDex
- MangaUpdates
- Metron
- MyAnimeList
- League of Comic Geeks
Note: If you are using information from a source not included in the above
source
attribute, you can add aURL
element and set theprimary
attribute totrue
to identify where the information was retrieved from.
Publisher
A person or organization responsible for publishing, releasing, or issuing a book. It can also have an id
attribute
that can be used to add the identification number from the source of information.
It also has the following children elements:
-
Name
The name of the Publisher.
-
Imprint
Optional. The brand name used to publish a series. For example, Vertigo is an imprint of DC Comics.
It can also have an
id
attribute.
Series
Contains information about the series the book is part of. It can have a lang
attribute, which is defined as a
2-letter language code (ISO 639-3), and an id
attribute that can be used to add the identification number from the
source of information.
It also has the following children elements:
-
Name
The name of the series.
-
SortName
The name of the series that should be used for sorting purposes. Normally this is the same as the
Name
element, but without any leading articles like the. -
Volume
Volume containing the book. Volume is a notion that is specific to US Comics, where the same series can have multiple volumes.
Volumes can be referenced by number (1, 2, 3…) or by year (2018, 2020…).
-
IssueCount
The total number of issues for the series. For example, Black Lightning v1 (1997) ran for 11 issues, so the value of the
IssueCount
would be 11. This can change between issues of a series, if it was still being published when the xml document was written.This element is primarily used by comic server software like Kavita or Codex.
-
VolumeCount
The total number of volumes for a series. For example, Black Lightning has the following v1 (1977), v2 (1995), and v3 (2025), so the value in the
VolumeCount
sub-element would be 3.This can be used to distinguish total volumes published, like Bleach, which has 74 volumes or 706 issues.
This element is primarily used by comic server software like Kavita or Codex.
-
Format
The type of series. It must be one of the following values:
- Annual
- Digital Chapter
- Graphic Novel
- Hardcover
- Limited Series (which covers mini/maxi series)
- Omnibus
- One-Shot
- Single Issue (which covers ongoing/cancelled series)
- Trade Paperback
-
StartYear
The year that the series started in. This must be a 4 digit value.
-
AlternativeNames
Any other names the series is named as. It has
AlternativeName
children name for the individual alternative series name.They have the following children element:
-
Name
The alternative name of the series. It can have an
id
andlang
(defined as a 2-letter language code (ISO 639-3)) attribute.
-
MangaVolume
Used to store the Volume
for Manga. This is a string element.
CollectionTitle
Trade Paperback and other collections can sometimes have a name for individual Trade Paperback in a series.
Number
Number of the book in the series which can accept alphanumeric values like 1MU
.
Stories
Contains information about the stories contained within an issues.
It has Story
children elements for the individual story names. It can also have an id
attribute that can be used to
add the identification number from the source of information.
Note: The Story
element and it's children elements are analogous to
the Title element in
the ComicInfo.xml schema.