XBRL® For Dummies®

Chapter 15. Creating and Using XBRL

In This Chapter

• Seeing XBRL in action

• Viewing and creating an XBRL taxonomy and XBRL instance

• Validating an XBRL taxonomy and XBRL instance

• Extending an XBRL taxonomy

• Interacting with your XBRL information

This chapter focuses exclusively on working with XBRL. We guide you through the process of viewing, creating, validating, extending, and otherwise interacting with XBRL. We work with both XBRL taxonomies and XBRL instances. This chapter won't turn you into an XBRL expert, but it does provide the first practical steps as you enter the waters of XBRL.

Tip

To avoid having to type the long links in this chapter, go to www.dummies.com/go/xbrl. This takes you to a landing page where you can click the link you need.

Getting Started on Your XBRL Journey

To work with XBRL, you need software. You can actually use any text editor, but text editors don't understand XBRL as well as an XBRL processor does.

For our journey, we have to pick specific software applications to use. We chose software that meets the following criteria:

• It's free to try. That way, you can download it and walk through the tasks we lead you through.

• It can perform the task. Clearly, the software needs to perform the task we want to perform.

• It handles key basic tasks. Our goal is to expose you to the basics, such as creating an XBRL taxonomy and XBRL instance.

Note

You don't have to use the software we use in this chapter: You're free to choose a different software application. We've made the step-by-step ...