Re: Accept atribute on forms and links

On Thu, Jun 19, 2014 at 5:59 PM, Cameron Jones <cmhjones@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Jun 19, 2014 at 3:58 PM, Jose Antonio Illescas del Olmo <
> jose.illescas@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Anchors are GETing resources, resources has many representations (html,
>> pdf, png, txt)
>>
>>    I would like to request custom representation (for example pdf) on
>> link or form without using the ugly extension mechanism (*.pdf)
>>
>
>> And rely on server content negotiation... yes also I like to specify a
>> list of preferred representations (not only one)
>>
>>    image/png, image/jpg, image/gif, image/svg-xml  (this is my list of
>> preferred representations, or mime-types, and I don't like any other image
>> format)
>>
>>
>>
> One problem with this is that the URL will no longer work if it is outside
> of the original document. For forms this is ok, but people expect links to
> just work.
>
>
Why?

On my application every resource has an PDF representation, if not,
received a response error

      406 - Not Acceptable (Representation not available)

Or, if server not has, this representation can server default
representation (*/*)


> Content negotiation is supposed to be for client software to advertise
> what formats it supports so that the server can provide suitable content
> which can be displayed by the host software.
>

Content-negotiation is on server side (and displayed on client side)


>
> It's not really meant for authors to declare what content they want
> requested - if you already know the distinct resource you want to
> reference, you should just link to it. Then the client will either support
> the format and display it, or not and offer it for download.
>
>
Same URL offers multiple representations (I don't like multiples URLs for
same resource, based on their representation):

    http://server.com/account/12345  (can be represented as XML, JSON and
downloaded as PDF for example)

    I think multiples URLs, for same resource, is very ugly

     · http://server.com/account/12345.htm
     · http://server.com/account/12345.xml
     · http://server.com/account/12345.json
     · http://server.com/account/12345.pdf



> Overloading resource URLs on the server and overriding Accept headers on
> every link goes against some basic web principals.
>

I override "accept" header only on some links (when I request concrete
representation) by default every link uses browser default headers


>
>
> Cameron
>
>
>> On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 5:28 PM, Cameron Jones <cmhjones@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 6:15 PM, Jose Antonio Illescas del Olmo <
>>> jose.illescas@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> And links?
>>>>
>>>>    <a href="/formula">link</a>
>>>>
>>>
>>> Anchors are static references to URLs, whereas forms are used for
>>> configuring custom scheme requests. They both serve a distinct purpose so
>>> mixing the necessary complexity into anchors serves no purpose - if you
>>> need to configure a custom HTTP request you can use a form.
>>>
>>> HTH,
>>> Cameron
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Thank you, Cameron
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 5:57 PM, Cameron Jones <cmhjones@gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Sat, Jun 14, 2014 at 11:53 AM, Jose Antonio Illescas del Olmo <
>>>>> jose.illescas@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Please consider add (optional) "accept" header to request concrete
>>>>>> representations:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Until now is necesary delegato on extension to download concrete
>>>>>> representations:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> For example:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>    Now: <a href="/resource.pdf"/>
>>>>>>    Proposed: <a href="/resource" accept="application/pdf"/>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>    Now: <a href="/resource.svg"/>
>>>>>>    Proposed: <a href="/resource" accept="image/svg+xml"/>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The same attribute "accept" can be applied for <forms>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>     <form method="get" action="/formula"
>>>>>> accept="application/mathml+xml">
>>>>>>     ...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thank you
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> This feature is available within the HTTP Form Extensions
>>>>> specification:
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.w3.org/TR/form-http-extensions/
>>>>>
>>>>> You can configure a form using inputs which may override the standard
>>>>> Accept header:
>>>>>
>>>>> <form method="GET" action="/formula">
>>>>>     <input name="Accept" value="application/mathml+xml" type="hidden"
>>>>> payload="_header"/>
>>>>>     <button type="submit"/>
>>>>> </form>
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Cameron Jones
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>