Home Documents for HTTP Services: XML Syntax
draft-wilde-home-xml-00

Network Working Group                                           E. Wilde
Internet-Draft                                                       EMC
Intended status: Informational                             April 1, 2013
Expires: October 3, 2013

              Home Documents for HTTP Services: XML Syntax
                        draft-wilde-home-xml-00

Abstract

   The current draft for HTTP Home Documents provides a JSON syntax
   only.  This draft provides an XML syntax for the same underlying data
   model, so that the concept of HTTP Home Documents can be consistently
   exposed in both JSON- and XML-based HTTP services.

Note to Readers

   Please discuss this draft on the apps-discuss mailing list [5].

   Online access to all versions and files is available on github [6].

Status of this Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
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   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
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   This Internet-Draft will expire on October 3, 2013.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2013 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents

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   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   2.  XML Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   3.  XML Schema  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
   4.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
     4.1.  Media Type application/home+xml . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
   5.  Open Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
   6.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

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1.  Introduction

   An Internet Draft currently under development [1] proposes the
   concept of "Home Documents for HTTP APIs" and described them as
   follows:

   "This document proposes a 'home document' format for non-browser HTTP
   clients. [...]  The goal of home documents is to serve as a starting
   point for hypermedia APIs, where clients need to have an entry point,
   and then can use the API by following links.  Home documents thus
   serve the same purpose as home pages on web sites: They are stable
   entry points that provide starting points for clients with some
   knowledge of the services linked from them."

   While this general concept of a home document is independent of the
   representation format, the current draft only defines a JSON syntax.
   In order to make this concept available across representations, this
   draft defines an XML syntax for the concepts defined in [1].

   At this point it is undecided whether both drafts will be merged
   eventually, or whether they will both be published as separate
   documents.  Regardless of the final publication setup, it should be
   noted that this draft is only defining the XML syntax, whereas all
   the concepts represented in this syntax are defined by [1].

2.  XML Example

   The following Home Document in XML syntax uses the same data as the
   Home Document shown in Section 3 of [1]:

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   <resources xmlns="urn:ietf:rfc:XXXX">
    <resource rel="http://example.org/rel/widgets">
     <link href="/widgets/"/>
    </resource>
    <resource rel="http://example.org/rel/widget">
     <template href-template="/widgets/{widget_id}">
      <var name="widget_id" URI="http://example.org/param/widget"/>
     </template>
     <hints>
      <allow>
       <i>GET</i>
       <i>PUT</i>
       <i>DELETE</i>
       <i>PATCH</i>
      </allow>
      <representations>
       <i>application/json</i>
      </representations>
      <accept-patch>
       <i>application/patch+json</i>
      </accept-patch>
      <accept-post>
       <i>application/xml</i>
      </accept-post>
      <accept-ranges>
       <i>bytes</i>
      </accept-ranges>
     </hints>
    </resource>
   </resources>

   The mapping between JSON arrays and XML uses "item" elements <i/>,
   where each of those elements represents one array item.  For
   properties that have a single values (i.e., they are not defined as
   an array of values), this value is directly contained as content in
   the corresponding element.

   Currently, the draft does not specify an extension model (how to
   represents hints that are not specified in the draft itself), and
   therefore the extension model for XML is currently undefined as well.
   The XML syntax will be updated to reflect the extension model once it
   has been specified for the JSON syntax.

3.  XML Schema

   The following XML Schema is describing the XML shown in Section 2.
   Since there currently is no extension model, the XML Schema does

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   currently not contain any extension points.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" targetNamespace="urn:ietf:rfc:XXXX"
 elementFormDefault="qualified" xmlns:home="urn:ietf:rfc:XXXX">
 <xs:element name="resources">
  <xs:complexType>
   <xs:sequence maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0">
    <xs:element name="resource">
     <xs:complexType>
      <xs:sequence>
       <xs:choice>
        <xs:element name="link">
         <xs:complexType>
          <xs:attribute name="href" type="xs:anyURI" use="required"/>
         </xs:complexType>
        </xs:element>
        <xs:element name="template">
         <xs:complexType>
          <xs:sequence maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0">
           <xs:element name="var">
            <xs:complexType>
             <xs:attribute name="name" use="required"/>
             <xs:attribute name="URI" type="xs:anyURI" use="required"/>
            </xs:complexType>
           </xs:element>
          </xs:sequence>
          <xs:attribute name="href-template" use="required"/>
         </xs:complexType>
        </xs:element>
       </xs:choice>
       <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="hints">
        <xs:complexType>
         <xs:choice maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0">
          <xs:element name="allow" type="home:arrayType"/>
          <xs:element name="representations" type="home:arrayType"/>
          <xs:element name="accept-patch" type="home:arrayType"/>
          <xs:element name="accept-post" type="home:arrayType"/>
          <xs:element name="accept-put" type="home:arrayType"/>
          <xs:element name="accept-ranges" type="home:arrayType"/>
          <xs:element name="prefer" type="home:arrayType"/>
          <xs:element name="docs" type="xs:anyURI"/>
          <xs:element name="precondition-req" type="home:arrayType"/>
          <xs:element name="auth-req">
           <xs:complexType>
            <xs:sequence maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0">
             <xs:element name="scheme">
              <xs:complexType>
               <xs:sequence maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0">

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                <xs:element name="realm"/>
               </xs:sequence>
               <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:token"/>
              </xs:complexType>
             </xs:element>
            </xs:sequence>
           </xs:complexType>
          </xs:element>
          <xs:element name="status">
           <xs:simpleType>
            <xs:restriction base="xs:token">
             <xs:enumeration value="deprecated"/>
             <xs:enumeration value="gone"/>
            </xs:restriction>
           </xs:simpleType>
          </xs:element>
         </xs:choice>
        </xs:complexType>
       </xs:element>
      </xs:sequence>
      <xs:attribute name="rel" type="xs:anyURI" use="required"/>
     </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>
   </xs:sequence>
  </xs:complexType>
 </xs:element>
 <xs:complexType name="arrayType">
  <xs:sequence maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0">
   <xs:element name="i"/>
  </xs:sequence>
 </xs:complexType>
</xs:schema>

4.  IANA Considerations

   This specification registers a media type for the XML syntax of Home
   Documents (as defined in [1]).

4.1.  Media Type application/home+xml

   The Internet media type [2] for a Home Document in XML syntax is
   application/home+xml.

   Type name: application

   Subtype name: home+xml

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   Required parameters: none

   Optional parameters: Same as charset parameter for the media type
   "application/xml" as specified in RFC 3023 [3].

   Encoding considerations: Same as encoding considerations of media
   type "application/xml" as specified in RFC 3023 [3].

   Security considerations: This media type has all of the security
   considerations described in RFC 3023 [3] and [1].

   Interoperability considerations: N/A

   Published specification: RFC XXXX

   Applications that use this media type: Applications that publish Home
   Documents for HTTP services using XML syntax.

   Additional information:

      Magic number(s): N/A

      File extension(s): XML documents should use ".xml" as the file
      extension.

      Macintosh file type code(s): TEXT

   Person & email address to contact for further information: Erik Wilde
   <erik.wilde@emc.com>

   Intended usage: COMMON

   Restrictions on usage: none

   Author: Erik Wilde <erik.wilde@emc.com>

   Change controller: IETF

5.  Open Issues

   o  What is the extension model for the XML syntax?  Should processing
      of other namespaces be defined as "should ignore", so that same-
      namespace extensions are encouraged?

   o  Should the XML syntax provide support for embedded human-readable
      documentation?  This would probably not be supported in the JSON
      syntax, but could be marked as strictly optional and XML-specific.

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6.  Normative References

   [1]  Nottingham, M., "Home Documents for HTTP APIs",
        draft-nottingham-json-home-02 (work in progress),
        September 2012.

   [2]  Freed, N., Klensin, J., and T. Hansen, "Media Type
        Specifications and Registration Procedures", BCP 13, RFC 6838,
        January 2013.

   [3]  Murata, M., St. Laurent, S., and D. Kohn, "XML Media Types",
        RFC 3023, January 2001.

   [4]  Sperberg-McQueen, C., Yergeau, F., Paoli, J., Maler, E., and T.
        Bray, "Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Fifth Edition)",
        World Wide Web Consortium Recommendation REC-xml-20081126,
        November 2008, <http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-xml-20081126>.

   [5]  <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/apps-discuss>

   [6]  <https://github.com/dret/I-D/tree/master/template-desc>

Author's Address

   Erik Wilde
   EMC
   6801 Koll Center Parkway
   Pleasanton, CA 94566
   U.S.A.

   Phone: +1-925-6006244
   Email: erik.wilde@emc.com
   URI:   http://dret.net/netdret/

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