Version 0.1
Jim Cunningham (jfc@netscape.com)
Asad Faizi (asad@netscape.com)
Netscape Corp.
This documents intends to address some of the issues with adding new distributed authoring and versioning functionality by implementing new methods. This is by no means a complete DAV spec. It only attempts to answer some of the questions regarding new methods. Netscape welcomes and appreciates any feedback on this document.
Please send any comments to Asad Faizi .
Thank you
MetaData
| Function | Get Attribute Sheet |
| Functional Definition | Retrieves a file representing the full attribute sheet (i.e. all available attributes) for the resource named by URL. |
| Request | The Method is GETATTRIBUTES. The Protocol is HTTP/1.1.
The Request-URI must correspond to the resource whose property sheet
is requested.
The Request Header Fields must include the following header in addition to those usually supplied: Content-Attributes specifies the property whose value is needed. The user may specify a comma separated list of attributes or "*" if all the attributes are needed. Content-Attributes: attribute1, attribute2, attribute3,... | * |
| Response | If the request is successful, the server must return the following
Status-Code in the Status-Line of its response:
The header of the response contains Content-Attribute followed by a comma separated list of <attribute-name> <attribute-value> pairs. Content-Attributes: "<"attribute-name">" "<"attribute-value">" separated by comma (,). If the checkout is not successful, the server must return one of the following Status-Codes in the Status-Line of its response:
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| Function | Set Attribute Sheet |
| Functional Definition | Uploads editable attributes from the property sheet for the resource named by URL. |
| Rquest | The Method is SETATTRIBUTES. The Protocol is HTTP/1.1.
The Request-URI must correspond to the resource whose property sheet
is requested.
The Request Header Fields must include the following header in addition to those usually supplied: Content-Properties The user provides a comma separated list of <attribute-name> <attribute-value> pairs as the value of this header. Content-Properties: "<"property name">" "<"property value">" |
| Response | If the request is successful, the server must return the following
Status-Code in the Status-Line of its response:
If the checkout is not successful, the server must return one of the following Status-Codes in the Status-Line of its response:
501 Not Implemented. The server does not implement functionality required by the given operation, and is aware that it cannot do so. |
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| Function | Checkout |
| Functional Description | Retrieves a specified version of the resource named by URL, and may lock it for editing. |
| Request | The Method is CHECKOUT. The Protocol is HTTP/1.1.
The Request-URI must correspond to the resource to checkout.
The Request Header Fields must include the following header in addition to those usually supplied: Content-Lock specifies the status of lock. The user may define the if the checked-out resource should be locked, in which case the value of Content-Lock is ON, otherwise Off. Content-Lock: "On" | "Off" The Request Header Fields must include only one of the following headers in addition to those usually supplied: Content-Version specifies the version tag of the resource to checkout. The value "head" indicates the default-published version, as in the case: Content-Version: head or Content-Label specifies a label, previously associated with a specific version of the resource, to identify the version for checkout. Content-Label: label |
| Response | If the checkout is successful, the server must return the following
Status-Code in the Status-Line of its response:
It must also return the following response headers, if they are available: Content-Version specifies the version tag of the resource that was checked out. ("head" in the request should be translated to a specific version tag in the response). Content-Version: head and/or Content-Label specifies any label which was previously associated with this specific version of the resource. Content-Label: label If the checkout is not successful, the server must return one of the following Status-Codes in the Status-Line of its response:
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| Function | Checkin |
| Functional Description | Uploads a specified version of the resource named by URL, and unlocks it. |
| Request | The method is CHECKIN. The Protocol is HTTP/1.1.
The Request-URI must correspond to the resource to checkin.
The Request Header Fields must include the following header in addition to those usually supplied: Content-Version specifies the version tag of the resource to checkin. The user may specify a certain version or may use "head". The value "head" indicates the default-published version, as in the case: Content-Version: head | version-number Content-Lock specifies the status of lock. The user may define the if the checked-in resource should be locked, in which case the value of Content-Lock is ON, otherwise Off. Content-Lock: "On" | "Off" Content-Comment specifies the comments provided by the user to be associated with this particular version. Content-Comments: comments |
| Response | If the checkin is successful, the server must return the following
Status-Code in the Status-Line of its response:
If the request is successful, the server must also return the following response headers, if they are available: Content-Version specifies the (possibly new) version tag of the resource that was checked in. ("head" in the request should be translated to a specific version tag in the response). Content-Version: version and/or Content-Label specifies any label which was previously associated with this specific version of the resource. Content-Label: label If the checkin is not successful, the server must return one of the following Status-Codes in the Status-Line of its response:
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| Function | Unlock |
| Functional Definition | Removes a lock from the specified version of the resource named by URL. |
| Request | The method is UNLOCK. The Protocol is HTTP/1.1.
The Request-URI must correspond to the resource to unlock.
The Request Header Fields must include only one of the following headers in addition to those usually supplied: Content-Version specifies the version number of the resource be locked. The value "head" indicates the default-published version: Content-Version: version or Content-Label specifies a label, previously associated with a specific version of the resource, to identify the version locking. Content-Label: label |
| Response | If the unlock is successful, the server must return the following Status-Code
in the Status-Line of its response:
If the unlock is not successful, the server must return one of the following Status-Codes in the Status-Line of its response:
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| Function | Lock |
| Functional Definition | Set a lock to the specified version of the resource named by URL. |
| Request | The method is LOCK. The Protocol is HTTP/1.1.
The Request-URI must correspond to the resource to be locked.
The Request Header Fields must include only one of the following headers in addition to those usually supplied: Content-Version specifies the version number of the resource be locked. The value "head" indicates the default-published version: Content-Version: version or Content-Label specifies a label, previously associated with a specific version of the resource, to identify the version locking. Content-Label: label |
| Response | If the lock is successful, the server must return the following Status-Code
in the Status-Line of its response:
If the lock is not successful, the server must return one of the following Status-Codes in the Status-Line of its response:
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| Function | Default |
| Functional Definition | Makes the specified version of the resource named by URL the default-published version of that resource when a version is not explicitly specified (such as in response to a normal GET). |
| Request | The method is DEFAULT. The Protocol is HTTP/1.1.
The Request-URI must correspond to the resource to make the head.
The Request Header Fields must include only one of the following headers in addition to those usually supplied: Content-Version specifies the version number of the resource to become default-published. Content-Version: version or Content-Label specifies a label, previously associated with a specific version of the resource, to identify the version to become default. Content-Label: label |
| Response | If the default is successful, the server must return the following
Status-Code in the Status-Line of its response:
If the default is not successful, the server must return one of the following Status-Codes in the Status-Line of its response:
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| Function | Revision Log |
| Functional Definition | Returns information summarizing the version history and checkin/out logs of the resource named by URL. |
| Request | The method is REVLOG. The Protocol is HTTP/1.1.
The Request-URI must correspond to the resource of which the log
is requested.
The Request Header Fields must include the following header in addition to those usually supplied. Content-Log The user may specify a particular revision number or "*" for all revisions of this particular resource, or X.Y.* for all the versions of the branch Y of root X. Content-Log: RevNum | * | X.Y.* |
| Response | If the log is successful, the server must return the following Status-Code
in the Status-Line of its response:
Server also returns a space seperated list of all the versions of the requested resource. If the log is not successful, the server must return one of the following Status-Codes in the Status-Line of its response:
501 Not Implemented. The server does not implement functionality required by the given operation, and is aware that it cannot do so. |
| Note | Logs are different from Property Sheet information. Log refers to information pertaining to revision control aspects of the documents only. |
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| Function | Label |
| Functional Description | Associates a text label with a given version of a resource. |
| Request | The method is LABEL. The Protocol is HTTP/1.1.
The Request-URI must correspond to the resource of which the log
is requested.
The Request Header Fields must include the following headers in addition to those usually supplied: Content-Version specifies the specific version of the resource to which the label is to be applied. Content-Version: version and Content-Label is the label to be applied. Content-Label: label |
| Response | If the label is successful, the server must return the following Status-Code
in the Status-Line of its response:
200 OK. The label is successfully associated. If the log is not successful, the server must return one of the following Status-Codes in the Status-Line of its response:
501 Not Implemented. The server does not implement functionality required by the given operation, and is aware that it cannot do so. |
| Note | Labels is not part of the meta data and hence not accessable through GETPROPERTY. It is very specific to revision control |
| Function | Index Directory |
| Functional Description | Obtains an index of resources and their corresponding properties which reside beneath a given URI in the server's content store. One example is to obtain a list of files which reside in a server directory (or URI which ends with a / separator). |
| Request | The request's Method must be INDEX. The Protocol
must be HTTP/1.0. The Request-URI must correspond to the location of the
resource which is requested to be indexed.
The Request Header Fields may include the following header: Content-Index specifies a template for the index to follow, in order to include additional properties in the index response. For instance, including the following header with an index request: Content-Index: "filename" "content-type" "checked-in" Instructs the server to return an index of the resources in the specified directory, listed with the resource's filename, content type, and its checked-in status. The client may request a list of available properties (to be included in a subsequent index request) by including the Content-Index header without any property values. |
| Response | If the server is able to index the given resource, it must return the
following Status-Code in the Status-Line of its response:
A successful response must include the following Entity Header Field:
The Entity-Body must consist of a series of lines, in ASCII text. Each line corresponds to a resource within the resource being indexed. If the request header Content-Index is included in the request with property parameters, the BNF for this response is defined as follows: Entity-body = *(resource) [template ["]property name["] [SP ["]property name["] ...] ( LF | CRLF )] resource = [SP ["]property["] ...]( LF | CRLF ) The first line, template, indicates the template which the index will follow for returning properties along with the resource description. This template line should be identical to the requested template line, although it is not a strict requirement (for instance, if the client requests an invalid property). The client should use the response template line to determine property names. If the template line is omitted, the default attributes are assumed to be of the form: template "filename" SP "content-type" SP "size" SP "last-modification" CRLF Following the single optional template line are the series of resource lines, one for each resource. The defined properties include: filename = The name of the resource, encoded using the URL encoding rules. For more information, refer to RFC 1945. content-type = The MIME type of the specified resource. The special keyword directory is used to designate filesystem directories or their equivalents. size = The size in octets of the resource. The server may choose to respond with a single hyphen character (-) if it does not know the size of the resource. last-modification = The date of last modification of this resource, specified as the number of seconds since January 1, 1970 00:00:00 UTC. The server may choose to respond with a single hyphen character (-) if it does not know the size of the resource. property = Any additional properties which the server chooses to include which represent meta-information about the resource. For each property of a given resource which does not have a value, the value "" is returned. If the request header Content-Index is included in the request without any property parameters, such as in the case: Content-Index: Then the response consists of a file of type text/plain with a single line: [template [SP ["]property name["] ...] ( LF | CRLF )] Where the template includes the list of all property names available for indexing. If the request header Content-Index is not included in the request, the BNF for this response is defined as follows: Entity-body = *(resource) resource = filename SP content-type SP size SP last-modification ( LF | CRLF ) If the server is unsuccessful in indexing the given resource, it must respond with one of the following Status-Codes on the Status-Line of its response:
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| Function | Create Directory |
| Functional Description | The MKDIR method is used to create a new container object in the content store. For many servers, this will be a filesystem directory from the underlying operating system. |
| Request | The request's Method must be MKDIR. The Protocol
is HTTP/1.1. The Request-URI must be the URI of the
new directory or container to create.
It is recommended, but not required, that the server create all containers higher in the URI hierarchy to the specified URI before creating the new URI. For example, if the request asks for /foo/bar to be created, and /foo does not exist, the server must either create /foo before creating /foo/bar and return success as defined below, or it must return an error as defined below. The server is not required to implement container creation for all or even any of its URIs. For some content stores, it might not make sense or the concept of containers or directories might not directly apply. |
| Response | If the container creation is successful, the server must return the
following Status-Code in the Status-Line of the response:
If the container creation is not successful, the server must return one of the following Status-Codes in the Status-Line of the response:
501 Not Implemented. The server does not implement functionality required by the given operation, and is aware that it cannot do so. |
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| Function | Destroy Resource |
| Functional Description | The DESTROY method is used to schedule the parmenant removal of the resource, and delete revision archive. |
| Request | The request's Method is DESTROY. The Protocol is HTTP/1.1. The Request-URI must correspond to the location of the archieve to be removed. |
| Response | If the destruction is successful, the server must return the following
Status-Code in the Status-Line of its response:
If the deletion is not successful, the server must return one of the following Status-Codes in the Status-Line of its response:
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| Function | Move Resource |
| Functional Description | The MOVE method schedules the movement of a given resource from its current URI location to a new URI location. |
| Request | The request's Request-Method must be MOVE. The Protocol
is HTTP/1.1. The Request-URI must correspond to the location
of the resource which is requested to be moved.
The Request Header Fields must include the following header in addition to those usually supplied:
The server is not required to provide clients with automatic redirection from the old URI to the new one. The server is also allowed to selectively implement the relocation of resources and to refuse to move certain document types at its own discretion. For more information on request redirection, please refer to RFC 1945. |
| Response | If the relocation is successful, the server must return the following
Status-Code in the Status-Line of its response:
If the relocation is not successful, the server must return one of the following Status-Codes in the Status-Line of its response:
501 Not Implemented. The server does not implement movement of the given resource, and is aware that it does not know how to do so. |
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| Function | Remove Directory |
| Functional Description | The RMDIR method is used to schedule the removal of empty container objects from the content store. For many servers, this will be a filesystem directory from the underlying operating system. |
| Request | The request's Method must be RMDIR. The Protocol
is HTTP/1.1. The Request-URI must be the URI of the
directory or container to remove.
Servers are not required to implement this method on all resources in the content store. Further, if the requested container is not empty, the server is free to reject the request to remove the container until the contents have been emptied using the DELETE command. |
| Response | If the container removal is successful, the server must return the
following Status-Code in the Status-Line of the response:
If the container removal is not successful, the server must return one of the following Status-Codes in the Status-Line of the response:
501 Not Implemented. The server does not implement functionality required by the given operation, and is aware that it cannot do so. |
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| Function | Copy Resource |
| Functional Description | Schedules the copying of a given resource from its current URI location to a new URI location. |
| Request | The method is COPY. The Protocol is HTTP/1.1.
The Request-URI must correspond to the location of the resource
which is requested to be copied.
The Request Header Fields must include the following header in addition to those usually supplied:
The server is not required to provide clients with automatic redirection from the old URI to the new one. The server is also allowed to selectively implement the relocation of resources and to refuse to copy certain document types at its own discretion. |
| Response | If the copy is successful, the server must return the following Status-Code
in the Status-Line of its response:
If the copy is not successful, the server must return one of the following Status-Codes in the Status-Line of its response:
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