RE: Comments please!

>
> One solution is this:
>
> If you don't know whether it is a collection, or an ordinary resource,
> always perform a PROPFIND of Depth 1 on the resource.  If the
> resource is a
> collection, you'll receive the directory listing.  If the resource is an
> ordinary resource, you should just get back the properties on the resource
> itself, which will be a fairly small response.  Then, if it is just an
> ordinary resource, you can proceed with the GET.
>
> Note that this would only need to be done when the program
> doesn't know what
> kind of resource it is dealing with.  Once the program starts receiving
> PROPFIND responses, it can cache that information, and check its cache
> before performing the request.  While the program shouldn't depend on the
> cached information being correct (it could be stale), you can
> certainly make
> some optimisations based on the expected type of the resource
> (for example,
> going straight to a GET request if you expect the resource is an ordinary
> resource).

Hmm. But this doesn't solve my problem. Let's say that my website is called
'http://www.foo.com'. If I do a
get on this url, I'll get 'http://www.foo.com/index.htm' by default. But
'http://www.foo.com' is also a directory at the to level. So if a user types
'http://www.foo.com' I don't know if I should perform a Get or a Propfind,
both are valid. The user types the same thing for directory browsing in
'http://www.foo.com' and for getting the default page.

>
> > Today I solve this by using a wildcard at the end of the url.
> > Ex:
> > 'http://www.foo.com/*' -> Do a propfind on 'http://www.foo.com/'.
> > If not okay, try a Get on 'http://www.foo.com/*'.
> > This gives the user a way of 'open as webfolder', without having
> > to checking a checkbox. So now you can have links in xml files,
> > that gives you a WebDav directory listing. Or even email it.
>
> My concern with the "*" approach is that most non-programmer types don't
> realize there are special wildcard semantics associated with "*".
>
> - Jim
>

I agree.
This is why I posted this question. And probably why the 'web folders' have
to go through 'file/open' with a checkbox that say's it should be opened as
a folder.

/Rickard

Received on Tuesday, 25 January 2000 02:08:45 UTC