USD sections 6.4.4 and 6.6.1

OK I have a question -
Section 6.4.4 is called "structuring documents"  I've read the entire document 
again to try and figure out what kind of documents this refers to.  Anyone have 
an idea?  Are we talking SOAP documents?  That doesn't make sense in the 
context.  Are we talking about documents provided by the service?  I envision a 
discussion of recommending XML format (in non-recommendation verbiage) and 
talking about i18n-related information within such a document.  But, that seems 
a little too much like i18n primer material.  So I figure I must be missing the 
point here.

Here's a stab at section 6.6.1 - it's a little pedestrian.  I'll try and come up 
with something a little more creative, but I guess I'm not overly inspired.  If 
someone has an idea for a scenario, I'm happy to write it up.

6.6.1 Times and Time Zones

Time handling in Web services is usually affected by time zones.  However, there 
is no standard parameter to indicate the time zone.  Locales are not useful for 
determining time zone because there can be many time zones within a given locale.

Scenario A:  A Web service returns the current time of a city listed as part of 
the request.  The requester sends the name of a city (with an xml:lang tag) and 
the provider returns the current time in that city formatted in ISO 8601 format 
(hh:mm:ss).

Scenario B:  A Web service takes a date/time value in ISO 8601 format 
(yyyymmddThhmm+hhmm) and the name of a city with an xml:lang tag, and returns 
the value converted to the specified city's time.

Scenario C:  As a sub-process of a calendar service, a Web service inspects 
multiple calendars looking for mutually available time slots.  The requester 
provides a span of time in ISO 8601 format (yyyymmddThhmm+hhmm) using a start 
time and an end time.  The inspected calendars store information about their 
time zones.  The service returns a series of time spans in the ISO 8601 format.


-- 
I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my telephone. 
My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my telephone.
-Bjarne Stroustrup, designer of C++ programming language (1950- )

Received on Tuesday, 16 March 2004 22:17:00 UTC