PPT Composition Format (PPT-CF)

The PPT Composition Format (PPT-CF) is a domain-specific serialization protocol designed to encode the structural layout, nesting, and configuration of PPT Web Components into a concise string. This format is heavily optimized for URL-based deep linking and native-application portability, abstracting away the verbosity of raw HTML.

Architectural Philosophy

PPT-CF operates strictly within the PPT conceptual domain. It intentionally avoids standard HTML DOM definitions (like <div> or <span>). Instead, it relies on proxy components:

• ppt-box: A structural proxy (conceptually equivalent to a flex/grid block container).
• ppt-text: An inline text proxy.

By using semantic proxies, PPT-CF decoupling the encoding from HTML. A theoretical native application (e.g., iOS or Android renderer) could parse a PPT-CF payload and render native UI elements, completely bypassing the browser engine.

Encoding Structure

A raw PPT-CF payload is composed of three interconnected parts separated by the pipe | character:

[Header Index] | [Component Map] | [Structural Layout]

1. Header Index (The Dictionary)

A comma-separated dictionary mapping a short, single-character alphabetical key to a full PPT component tag name. A:ppt-container,B:ppt-period,C:ppt-period-step-circle

2. Component Map (Attribute Overrides)

A concise mapping of non-default attributes for specific instances. Instances in the structural layout are referenced by their order of appearance (0-indexed). 1:{shape:circle,interactive:true},2:{label:X}

3. Structural Layout (Nesting)

A bracket-based string defining the parent-child hierarchy using the keys from the Header Index. A[B[C,C,C]]

Complete Example Payload

A:ppt-container,B:ppt-period,C:ppt-period-step-circle|1:{shape:circle},2:{label:1},3:{label:2}|A[B[C,C]]

This payload translates to:

<ppt-container>
  <ppt-period shape="circle">
    <ppt-period-step-circle label="1"></ppt-period-step-circle>
    <ppt-period-step-circle label="2"></ppt-period-step-circle>
  </ppt-period>
</ppt-container>

Abstracting Standard HTML

All standard HTML must be proxied through PPT abstractions to ensure platform agnosticism:

• ppt-box: Used wherever a generic bounding box, layout container, or flex-row/column is required.
• ppt-text: Used for any textual labels, paragraphs, or inline typography.

This abstraction guarantees that a PPT-CF payload describes intent rather than implementation.

Compression & Prefixes

Because complex compositions can result in lengthy strings, PPT-CF supports payload compression. By convention, a payload should be prefixed to indicate its encoding format:

• raw: Uncompressed plain-text PPT-CF (e.g., raw:A:ppt-box|...|A[]).
• gz: Compressed using Deflate/GZIP and encoded in Base64 (e.g., gz:H4sIAAAAAAA...).

If no prefix is provided, the parser may auto-detect the format (e.g., if it contains a | or [, it is treated as raw).