Re: WS-MEX and putting undifferentiated MEX sections

Now that I'm off my mobile device let me elaborate on what I meant:
1 - require @Identifier to be present in all MetadataSections.
2 - a value of "" is a real value - it just happens to be an empty string. 
 We may need to say that any metadata that doesn't define a MEX 
@Identifier defaults to "".
3 - A GetMetadata w/o a @Identifier means "match ALL @Identifier value" 
(note, not ANY but ALL)
4 - A GetMetadata with a @Identifier of "" means "match only 
MetadataSections with a @Identifier of ""

thanks
-Doug
______________________________________________________
STSM |  Standards Architect  |  IBM Software Group
(919) 254-6905  |  IBM 444-6905  |  dug@us.ibm.com
The more I'm around some people, the more I like my dog.



Gilbert Pilz <gilbert.pilz@oracle.com> 
Sent by: public-ws-resource-access-request@w3.org
02/14/2011 07:08 PM

To
Doug Davis/Raleigh/IBM@IBMUS
cc
public-ws-resource-access@w3.org
Subject
Re: WS-MEX and putting undifferentiated MEX sections






I think I've got this figured out. Metadata that does not define an 
Identifier cannot, by its nature, have instances that can be distinguished 
from one another. This means that situations in which there are more than 
one instance of such metadata maintained on a single service are fraught 
with peril. For example, suppose there is some metadata of type "foo:baz" 
that has no defined identifier. A service might start out with the idea 
that it has two MetadataSections with @Dialect="foo:baz", but a client is 
going to have a hard time distinguishing between the two sections when 
they are returned from a GetMetadata. Furthermore, a single PutMetadata 
with a MetadataSection with @Dialect="foo:baz" will replace both sections. 
Finally, a GetMetadata of the form:

      <mex:GetMetadata>
         <ws:Dialect Type="foo:baz" Identifier="some value">
      </ws:GetMetadata>

is never going to return anything, since "foo:baz"s cannot have an 
Identifier and therefore cannot be matched against the supplied value.

I don't think we need to do define the Identifier value "" as having any 
meaning - these sorts of things always end up confusing people.

~ gp