XBRL instance documents contain financial data and disclosures for a specific entity, reporting period, and currency. The document describes the key components of an XBRL instance document, including the root element, schema and taxonomy references, contexts, units, and items that contain the reported values defined in the taxonomy. Relationships between elements are defined using linkbases for presentation, calculation, dimensions, labels, and references.
4. Source: Charlie Hoffman, http://xbrl.squarespace.com/journal/2009/6/21/high-level-model-of-xbrl.html
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6. XBRL Element Name Definition Cardinality xbrl An XBRL instance document Required root element schemaRef Identifies an XBRL taxonomy schema & links it to this XBRL instance document 1 .. N context Establishes the "reporting context" of an XBRL instance document (a complex element) 1 .. N Must contain: id attribute (a unique identifier); entity (to identify the reporting entity); period (to identify the reporting period) unit Identifies the numerical unit of measure (e.g. USD) (a complex element) 0 .. N Must contain: id attribute (a unique identifier); measure (to identify the unit of measure) An XBRL item At least one reported XBRL item 1 .. N Must contain: contextRef attribute (to identify the context that applies to this item); For numeric items: unitRef attribute (to identify the unit of measure that applies to this item); decimals attribute (to designate the reporting precision that applies to this item)