Review of XML-RPC interface for Manilla

At Dave's suggestion, I've reviewed the XML-RPC interface for Manilla;

http://www.xmlrpc.com/stories/storyReader$700

"Pike Compatible"

- general comments to all manilla.*
 - checkIn - probably need WebDAV, though I'm unclear on what
   locking semantics are required
 - get/set - HTTP GET/PUT
 - restoreDefault
   - could maybe use WebDAV to do this, otherwise an extension
     method doesn't seem too unreasonable to use in this case

- message
  - addToStoriesList - msgNum should be a URI, and POST would a be
    perfectly suitable replacement.  POST-by-URI (ie POST contents is
    a URI) would suffice if the document had previously been set
    (though a bit kludgy - maybe you don't need to send the doc
    down first).
  - create - PUT
  - isStory - I question why this is necessary, but if it is, a
    GET of the container URI could return a list of all stories
  - removeFromStoriesList - use HTTP DELETE from a container URI

"Manila Compatible"

general
  - get*[Date|Day|MsgNum] - HEAD of a URI (note that only one network
    round trip is required)

member
  - block/count/unblock - WebDAV collections & locking (if BLOCK
    would be analagous to locking a user URI)
  - listAll - GET a container URI
  - create - POST

message
  - addToPicturesList - POST to a picture container
  - attachEnclosure - this would be done with a POST of multipart/*
    content.  more than one attachment could be added to the
    document on a roundtrip too.
  - attachPicture - ditto
  - count* - HEAD on a the relevant container
  - delete - DELETE
  - list* - GET on various containers

shortcut
  - each shortcut should be an XML document that gets posted
    into a container of valid shortcuts.  Then you can use
    GET on the container for "listAll", and GET on the
    contained URIs for the individual shortcuts.
  
I must say Dave, that after having a good look through this, it's
much more well suited to HTTP (and maybe WebDAV) than I initially
expected.  Your methods are all document or metadocument centric
(a Good Thing).  I'm even more perplexed now why you didn't start
with HTTP.

MB

Received on Monday, 13 March 2000 15:53:21 UTC