Re: Contacts API concerns (RE: Draft minutes, 2011-01-15)

Hi Richard,

 Some comments inline (marked with DC)

Thanks!

De:  Rich Tibbett <rich.tibbett@gmail.com>
Fecha:  Fri, 14 Jan 2011 16:51:38 +0100
Para:  DANIEL JESUS COLOMA BAIGES <dcoloma@tid.es>
CC:  "public-device-apis@w3.org" <public-device-apis@w3.org>
Asunto:  Re: Contacts API concerns (RE: Draft minutes, 2011-01-15)

On Fri, Jan 14, 2011 at 3:59 PM, DANIEL JESUS COLOMA BAIGES
<dcoloma@tid.es> wrote:

   I would like also to understand how the Web approach would work in case
of bulk updates/additions (e.g. Contact synchronization, backup&restore).
Richard, could you provide some examples about that?



As Anssi notes in his previous email [3] the vCard format allows for
multiple Contacts to be added/updated to the address book in a single
action.

DC: Thanks, I will have a look at that.

   We have also missed the capability to delete contacts, don't we? I
think we had that in the original set of requirements for this API and is
a feature that may be interesting for some apps.

I'm not sure when a web application would have the authority to delete a
Contact from an address book that is essentially not managed by, or under
the control of, that service.

DC: For me, there is no much difference in an application updating a
contact or deleting it. What if all the contact data is replaced by dumb
values?

Hypothetically, a Contacts implementation could sync with a web
application via alternative back end interfaces. When a contact is removed
on the web application side it could also be removed from the address book
via such interfaces. Also, a user should be able to delete a contact from
their address book via the implementation UI.

We're not too prescriptive on how a contact can be deleted though the
above examples show how it could be enabled around the API, but I see no
real use cases for delete to be in the API itself. Delete functionality
shouldn't have to be bundled in to a front-end web api in the first
instance when other mechanisms exist and could be enabled for deleting
contacts with paradigms that work.

DC: I believe there are use cases, for instance contact sync, that require
the capability to delete a contact.

Yes, we should try and have been trying to standardize a programmatic API.
We have been doing just that with the Contact Writer spec but this work
has stalled. Considering that an API we produce should be implementable
without the policy and permissioning specs since there are no normative
dependencies, then the user experience of a bajillion prompts quickly
kills the APIs, hence the current model.



To date I haven't received much (if any) feedback on the Contacts Writer
spec. Implementers such as Mozilla have chosen not to implement this spec
and so we sought more suitable solutions to the problem.


DC: Apologies for my lack of feedback.

I'm also not that keen on maintaining a stalled spec unless someone comes
up with a viable proposal for moving it forward.

DC: Sorry for the confusion. Was not asking for you to do it, but asking
whether you would object to somebody else taking care of it.

It doesn't present a mechanism that really works when certain WAC
assumptions are removed.

DC: Could you please clarify which assumptions are you talking about?

- Rich



[1] http://labs.opera.com/news/2010/12/22/
[2] http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/CS001238_-_Adding_contact_in_WRT




[3]
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-device-apis/2011Jan/0049.html


Este mensaje se dirige exclusivamente a su destinatario. Puede consultar nuestra pol?tica de env?o y recepci?n de correo electr?nico en el enlace situado m?s abajo.
This message is intended exclusively for its addressee. We only send and receive email on the basis of the terms set out at.
http://www.tid.es/ES/PAGINAS/disclaimer.aspx

Received on Friday, 14 January 2011 16:24:11 UTC