Re: Media types

----- Original Message -----
From: "Noah Mendelsohn" <noah_mendelsohn@us.ibm.com>
To: <skw@hplb.hpl.hp.com>
Cc: "gtn" <gtn@rbii.com>; "www-tag" <www-tag@w3.org>; "xml-dist-app"
<xml-dist-app@w3.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2002 8:42 AM
Subject: RE: Media types


>
> Ironically, a primary counterexample to the proposition that the root
> element namespace determines the "type" of a document is SOAP itself.  If
I
> send a purchase order wrapped in a SOAP envelope, is it most useful to
> consider this as "a SOAP document that by the way contains a purchase
> order" or as "a purchase order that happens to be wrapped in a SOAP
> envelope"?   I would argue that there are many cases in which the latter
> represents a more useful view than the former, though both are valid in
> principle.  Consider a message queuing system that receives different
types
> of requests, including purchase orders, through a variety of protocols,
one
> of which is SOAP.  In such a system, it may be as useful to type the
> document as a purchase order rather than as a SOAP message.
>
> Perhaps the most useful labeling would be as "a SOAP purchase order". In
> other words, a label that potentially draws on a range of information
> salted through the document to determine its nature.  Unfortunately, the
> current system of MIME types probably does not scale to this sort of
> usage---URI names would be a better base on which to build.  That being
the
> case, I don't think we should go too far in limiting the mime types that
> can be applied to a SOAP message.  It may indeed be appropriate to choose
a
> type such as xml+soap or whatever as a standard to promote
interoperability
> in the case where "xmlness" and "soapness" is the most useful thing to
> convey in the MIME type.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Noah Mendelsohn                                    Voice: 1-617-693-4036
> Lotus Development Corp.                            Fax: 1-617-693-8676
> One Rogers Street
> Cambridge, MA 02142
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>

Received on Wednesday, 16 January 2002 12:41:57 UTC