INTERNET-DRAFT Saveen Reddy,
draft-reddy-dasl-protocol- Microsoft
03.txt Dale Lowry, Novell
Surendra Reddy, Oracle
Rick Henderson,
Netscape
Jim Davis, Xerox
Alan Babich, Filenet
Expires May 11, 1999
November 11, 1998
DAV Searching & Locating
Status of this Memo
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Abstract
This document specifies a set of methods, headers, and content-
types composing DASL, an application of the HTTP/1.1 protocol to
efficiently search for DAV resources based upon a set of client-
supplied criteria.
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Table of Contents
DAV SEARCHING & LOCATING..................................1
TABLE OF CONTENTS.........................................2
1. INTRODUCTION..........................................4
1.1. DASL 4
1.2. Relationship to DAV.................................5
1.3. Terms...............................................5
1.4. Notational Conventions..............................5
1.5. An Overview of DASL at Work.........................5
2. THE SEARCH METHOD.....................................5
2.1. Overview............................................5
2.2. The Request.........................................6
2.2.1. The Request-URI...................................6
2.2.2. The Request Body..................................6
2.3. The DAV:searchrequest XML Element...................6
2.4. The Successful 207 (Multistatus) Response...........6
2.4.1. Extending the PROPFIND Response...................7
2.4.2. Example: A Simple Request and Response............7
2.5. Unsuccessful Responses..............................7
2.5.1. Example: Result Set Truncation....................8
2.6. Invalid Scopes & Search Redirections................9
2.6.1. Indicating an Invalid Scope.......................9
2.6.2. Example of an Invalid Scope.......................9
2.6.3. Redirections.....................................10
2.6.4. Example of a Search Redirection..................10
2.6.5. Syntax for DAV:scoperror.........................10
2.6.6. Syntax for DAV:redirectarbiter...................10
3. DISCOVERY OF SUPPORTED QUERY GRAMMARS................10
3.1. The OPTIONS Method.................................11
3.2. The DASL Response Header...........................11
3.3. Example: Grammar Discovery.........................11
4. QUERY SCHEMA DISCOVERY: QSD..........................12
4.1. The DAV:queryschema Property.......................13
4.1.1. Example of query schema discovery................13
5. THE DAV:BASICSEARCH GRAMMAR..........................14
5.1. Introduction.......................................14
5.2. The DAV:basicsearch DTD............................14
5.2.1. Example Query....................................15
5.3. DAV:select.........................................16
5.4. DAV:from...........................................16
5.4.1. Relationship to the Request-URI..................16
5.4.2. Scope............................................16
5.5. DAV:where..........................................17
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5.5.1. Use of Three-Valued Logic in Queries.............17
5.5.2. Handling Optional operators......................17
5.5.3. Treatment of NULL Values.........................18
5.5.4. Example: Testing for Equality....................18
5.5.5. Example: Relative Comparisons....................18
5.6. DAV:sortby.........................................18
5.6.1. Comparing Natural Language Strings...............19
5.6.2. Example of Sorting...............................19
5.7. Boolean Operators: DAV:and, DAV:or, and DAV:not....19
5.8. DAV:eq.............................................19
5.9. DAV:lt, DAV:lte, DAV:gt, DAV:gte...................20
5.10. DAV:literal........................................20
5.11. DAV:isdefined......................................20
5.12. DAV:like...........................................20
5.12.1. Syntax for the Literal Pattern.................20
5.12.2. Example of DAV:like............................21
5.13. DAV:contains.......................................21
5.13.1. Example........................................22
5.13.2. Example........................................22
5.14. The DAV:limit XML Element..........................22
5.15. The DAV:nresults XML Element.......................22
5.16. The DAV:casesensitive XML attribute................22
5.17. The DAV:score Property.............................23
5.18. The DAV:iscollection Property......................23
5.18.1. Exampe of DAV:iscollection.....................23
5.19. Query Schema for DAV:basicsearch...................23
5.19.1. DTD for DAV:basicsearch QSD....................24
5.19.2. DAV:propdesc Element...........................24
5.19.3. The DAV:datatype Property Description..........24
5.19.4. The DAV:searchable Property Description........25
5.19.5. The DAV:selectable Property Description........25
5.19.6. The DAV:sortable Property Description..........25
5.19.7. The DAV:casesensitive Property Description.....26
5.19.8. The DAV:operators XML Element..................26
5.19.9. Example of Query Schema for DAV:basicsearch....26
6. INTERNATIONALIZATION CONSIDERATIONS..................27
7. SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS..............................27
8. SCALABILITY..........................................27
9. AUTHENTICATION.......................................27
10. IANA CONSIDERATIONS................................28
11. COPYRIGHT..........................................28
12. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY..............................28
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13. REFERENCES.........................................28
14. AUTHOR'S ADDRESSES.................................28
15. APPENDICES.........................................29
Appendix A Three-Valued Logic in DAV:basicsearch........29
16. CHANGE HISTORY.....................................30
Feb 14, 1998............................................30
Feb 28, 1998............................................30
Mar 9, 1998.............................................31
Mar 11, 1998............................................31
April 8, 1998...........................................31
May 8, 1998.............................................31
June 17, 1998...........................................31
June 23, 1998...........................................31
Jul 20, 1998............................................31
July 28, 1998...........................................31
July 28, 1998...........................................32
September 4, 1998.......................................32
September 22, 1998......................................32
October 9, 1998.........................................32
November 2, 1998........................................32
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. DASL
This document defines DAV Searching & Locating (DASL), an
application of HTTP/1.1 forming a lightweight search protocol to
transport queries and result sets and allows clients to make use
of server-side search facilities. [DASLREQ] describes the
motivation for DASL.
DASL will minimize the complexity of clients so as to facilitate
widespread deployment of applications capable of utilizing the
DASL search mechanisms.
DASL consists of:
- the SEARCH method,
- the DASL response header,
- the DAV:searchrequest XML element,
- the DAV:queryschema property,
- the DAV:basicsearch XML element and query grammar, and
- the DAV:basicsearchschema XML element.
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1.2. Relationship to DAV
DASL relies on the resource and property model defined by
[WebDAV]. DASL does not alter this model. Instead, DASL allows
clients to access DAV-modeled resources through server-side
search.
1.3. Terms
This draft uses the terms defined in [RFC2068], [WebDAV], and
[DASLREQ].
1.4. Notational Conventions
The augmented BNF used by this document to describe protocol
elements is exactly the same as the one described in Section 2.1
of [RFC2068]. Because this augmented BNF uses the basic
production rules provided in Section 2.2 of [RFC2068], those
rules apply to this document as well.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL
NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
[RFC2119].
1.5. An Overview of DASL at Work
One can express the basic usage of DASL in the following steps:
- The client constructs a query using the DAV:basicsearch grammar.
- The client invokes the SEARCH method on a resource that will
perform the search (the search arbiter) and includes a text/xml
request entity that contains the query.
- The search arbiter performs the query.
- The search arbiter sends the results of the query back to the
client in the response. The server MUST send a text/xml entity
that matches the [WebDAV] PROPFIND response.
2. THE SEARCH METHOD
2.1. Overview
The client invokes the SEARCH method to initiate a server-side
search. The body of the request defines the query. The server
MUST emit text/xml entity matching the [WebDAV] PROPFIND
response.
The SEARCH method plays the role of transport mechanism for the
query and the result set. It does not define the semantics of
the query. The type of the query defines the semantics.
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2.2. The Request
The client invokes the SEARCH method on the resource named by the
Request-URI.
2.2.1. The Request-URI
The Request-URI identifies the search arbiter.
The SEARCH method per se defines no relationship between the
arbiter and the scope of the search, rather the particular query
grammar used in the query defines the relationship. For example,
the FOO query grammar may force the request-URI to correspond
exactly to the search scope.
2.2.2. The Request Body
The server MUST process a text/xml request body, and MAY process
request bodies in other formats.
If the client sends a text/xml body, it MUST include the
DAV:searchrequest XML element. The DAV:searchrequest XML element
identifies the query grammar, defines the criteria, the result
record, and any other details needed to perform the search.
2.3. The DAV:searchrequest XML Element
<!ELEMENT searchrequest ANY >
The DAV:searchrequest XML element contains a single XML element
that defines the query. The name of the query element defines
the type of the query. The value of that element defines the
query itself.
2.4. The Successful 207 (Multistatus) Response
If the server returns 207 (Multistatus), then the search
proceeded successfully and the response MUST match that of a
PROPFIND.
There MUST be one DAV:response for each resource that matched the
search criteria. For each such response, the DAV:href element
contains the URI of the resource, and the response MUST include a
DAV:propstat element.
In addition, the server MAY include DAV:response items in the
reply where the DAV:href element contains a URI that is not a
matching resource, e.g. that of a scope or the query arbiter.
Each such response item MUST NOT contain a DAV:propstat element,
and MUST contain a DAV:status. It SHOULD contain a
DAV:responsedescription.
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2.4.1. Extending the PROPFIND Response
A response MAY include more information than PROPFIND defines so
long as the extra information does not invalidate the PROPFIND
response. Query grammars SHOULD define how the response matches
the PROPFIND response.
2.4.2. Example: A Simple Request and Response
This example demonstrates the request and response framework.
The following XML document shows a simple (hypothetical) natural
language query. The name of the query element is FOO:natural-
language-query, thus the type of the query is FOO:natural-
language-query. The actual query is "Find the locations of good
Thai restaurants in Los Angeles". For this hypothetical query,
the arbiter returns two properties for each selected resource.
SEARCH / HTTP/1.1
Host: ryu.com
Content-Type: text/xml
Connection: Close
Content-Length: 243
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<D:searchrequest xmlns:D = "DAV:" xmlns:F = "FOO:">
<F:natural-language-query>
Find the locations of good Thai restaurants in Los Angeles
</F:natural-language-query>
</D:searchrequest>
>> Response
HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status
Content-Type: text/xml
Content-Length: 333
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<D:multistatus xmlns:D="DAV:" xmlns:F="FOO:" xmlns:R="
http://ryu.com/propschema">
<D:response>
<D:href>http://siamiam.com</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<R:location>259 W. Hollywood</R:location>
<R:rating><R:stars>4</R:stars></R:rating>
</D:prop>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
</D:multistatus>
2.5. Unsuccessful Responses
If an error occurred that prevented execution of the query, the
server MUST indicate the failure with the appropriate status code
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and SHOULD include a DAV:multistatus element to point out errors
associated with scopes.
400 Bad Request. The query could not be executed. The request may
be malformed (not valid XML for example). Additionally, this can
be used for invalid scopes and search redirections.
422 Unprocessable entity. The query could not be executed. If a
text/xml request entity was provided, then it may have been valid
(well-formed) but may have contained an unsupported or
unimplemented query operator.
507 (Insufficient Storage). The query produced more results
than the server was willing to transmit. Partial results have
been transmitted. The server MUST send a body that matches that
for 207, except that there MAY exist resources that matched the
search criteria for which no corresponding DAV:response exists in
the reply.
2.5.1. Example: Result Set Truncation
A server MAY limit the number of resources in a reply, for
example to limit the amount of resources expended in processing a
query. If it does so, the reply MUST use status code 507. It
SHOULD include the partial results.
SEARCH / HTTP/1.1
Host: gdr.com
Content-Type: text/xml
Connection: Close
Content-Length: xxxxx
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<D:searchrequest xmlns:D="DAV:" xmlns:F="FOO:" xmlns:F=">
<D:basicsearch>
the query goes here
</D:basicsearch>
</D:searchrequest>
>> Response
HTTP/1.1 507 Insufficient Storage
Content-Type: text/xml
Content-Length: 738
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<D:multistatus xmlns:D="DAV:" xmlns:F="FOO:">
<D:response>
<D:href>http://www.gdr.com/sounds/unbrokenchain.au</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop/>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
<D:response>
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<D:href>http://tech.mit.edu/archive96/photos/Lesh1.jpg</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop/>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
<D:/propstat>
</D:response>
<D:response>
<D:href>http://gdr.com</href>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 507 Insufficient Storage</D:status>
<D:responsedescription>
Only first two matching records were returned
</D:responsedescription>
</D:response>
</D:multistatus>
2.6. Invalid Scopes & Search Redirections
2.6.1. Indicating an Invalid Scope
A client may submit a scope that the arbiter may be unable to
query. The inability to query may be due to network failure,
administrative policy, security, etc. This raises the condition
described as an "invalid scope".
To indicate an invalid scope, the server MUST respond with a 400
(Bad Request).
The response includes a text/xml body with a DAV:multistatus
element. Each DAV:resource in the DAV:multistatus identifies a
scope. To indicate that this scope is the source of the error,
the server MUST include the DAV:scoperror element.
2.6.2. Example of an Invalid Scope
HTTP/1.1 400 Bad-Request
Content-Type: text/xml
Content-Length: xxxxx
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<d:multistatus xmlns:d="DAV:">
<d:response>
<d:href>http://www.foo.com/X</d:href>
<d:status>HTTP/1.1 404 Object Not Found</d:status>
<d:scopeerror/>
</d:response>
</d:multistatus>
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2.6.3. Redirections
As described above, a server can indicate only that the scope is
invalid. Some search arbiters may be able to indicate that other
search arbiters exist for that scope.
In this case, the server MUST:
(1) include the DAV:scoperror element
(2) include the DAV:status element for that scope. The value of
this element MUST be a 303 (See Other) response.
(3) include the DAV:redirectarbiter element for each arbiter the
client should use for the redirect. The value of this element is
the URI of the arbiter to use. Multiple DAV:redirectarbiter
elements are allowed.
2.6.4. Example of a Search Redirection
HTTP/1.1 400 Bad-Request
Content-Type: text/xml
Content-Length: xxxxx
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<?xml:namespace ns="DAV:" prefix="d" ?>
<d:multistatus>
<d:response>
<d:href>http://www.foo.com/X</d:href>
<d:status>HTTP/1.1 303 See Other</d:status>
<d:scopeerror/>
<d:redirectarbiter>http://bar.com/B</d:redirectarbiter>
<d:redirectarbiter>http://baz.com/B</d:redirectarbiter>
</d:response>
</d:multistatus>
2.6.5. Syntax for DAV:scoperror
<!ELEMENT scoperror EMPTY>
2.6.6. Syntax for DAV:redirectarbiter
<!ELEMENT redirectarbiter (#PCDATA)>
3. DISCOVERY OF SUPPORTED QUERY GRAMMARS
Servers MUST support discovery of the query grammars supported by
a resource.
Clients can determine which query grammars are supported by an
arbiter by invoking OPTIONS on the search arbiter. If the
resource supports SEARCH, then the DASL response header will
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appear in the response. The DASL response header lists the
supported grammars.
3.1. The OPTIONS Method
The OPTIONS method allows the client to discover if a resource
supports the SEARCH method and to determine the list of search
grammars supported for that resource.
The client issues the OPTIONS method against a resource named by
the Request-URI. This is a normal invocation of OPTIONS defined
in [RFC2068].
If a resource supports the SEARCH method, then the server MUST
list SEARCH in the OPTIONS response as defined by [RFC2068].
DASL servers MUST include the DASL header in the OPTIONS
response. This header identifies the search grammars supported by
that resource.
3.2. The DASL Response Header
DASLHeader = "DASL" ":" Coded-URL ; defined in section 8.4 of
[WEBDAV]
The DASL response header indicates server support for a query
grammar in the OPTIONS method. The value is a URI that indicates
the type of grammar. This header MAY be repeated
For example:
DASL: <http://foo.bar.com/syntax1>
DASL: <http://akuma.com/syntax2>
DASL: <FOO:natural-language-query>
3.3. Example: Grammar Discovery
This example shows that the server supports search on the
/somefolder resource with the following query grammars:
http://foo.bar.com/syntax1 and http://akuma.com/syntax2.
>> Request
OPTIONS /somefolder HTTP/1.1
Connection: Close
Host: ryu.com
>> Response
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 20:52:29 GMT
Connection: close
Accept-Ranges: none
Allow: OPTIONS, GET, HEAD, POST, PUT, DELETE, TRACE, COPY, MOVE,
MKCOL, PROPFIND, PROPPATCH, LOCK, UNLOCK, SEARCH
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Public: OPTIONS, GET, HEAD, POST, PUT, DELETE, TRACE, COPY, MOVE,
MKCOL, PROPFIND, PROPPATCH, LOCK, UNLOCK, SEARCH
DASL: <http://foo.bar.com/syntax1>
DASL: <http://akuma.com/syntax2>
4. QUERY SCHEMA DISCOVERY: QSD
Servers MAY support the discovery of the schema for a query
grammar.
The DASL response header provides means for clients to discover
the set of query grammars supported by a resource. This alone is
not sufficient information for a client to generate a query. For
example, the DAV:basicsearch grammar defines a set of queries
consisting of a set of operators applied to a set of properties
and values, but the grammar itself does not specify which
properties may be used in the query. QSD for the
DAV:basicsearch grammar allows a client to discover the set of
properties that are searchable, selectable, and sortable.
Moreover, although the DAV:basicsearch grammar defines a minimal
set of operators, it is possible that a resource might support
additional operators in a query. For example, a resource might
support a optional operator that can be used to express content-
based queries in a proprietary syntax. QSD allows a client to
discover these operators and their syntax. The set of
discoverable quantities will differ from grammar to grammar, but
each grammar can define a means for a client to discover what can
be discovered.
In general, the schema for a given query grammar depends on both
the resource (the arbiter) and the scope. A given resource might
have access to one set of properties for one potential scope, and
another set for a different scope. For example, consider a
server able to search two distinct collections, one holding
cooking recipes, the other design documents for nuclear weapons.
While both collections might support properties such as author,
title, and date, the first might also define properties such as
calories and preparation time, while the second defined
properties such as yield and applicable patents. Two distinct
arbiters indexing the same collection might also have access to
different properties. For example, the recipe collection
mentioned above might also indexed by a value-added server that
also stored the names of chefs who had tested the recipe. Note
also that the available query schema might also depend on other
factors, such as the identity of the principal conducting the
search, but these factors are not exposed in this protocol.
Each query grammar supported by DASL defines its own syntax for
expressing the possible query schema. A client retrieves the
schema for a given query grammar on an arbiter resource with a
given scope by invoking the SEARCH method on that arbiter, with
that grammar and scope, with a query whose DAV:select element
includes the DAV:queryschema property. This property is defined
only in the context of such a search, a server SHOULD not treat
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it as defined in the context of a PROPFIND on the scope. The
content of this property is an XML element whose name and syntax
depend upon the grammar, and whose value may (and likely will)
vary depending upon the grammar, arbiter, and scope.
The query schema for DAV:basicsearch is defined in section 5.19.
4.1. The DAV:queryschema Property
<!ELEMENT queryschema ANY >
4.1.1. Example of query schema discovery
In this example, the arbiter is recipes.com, the grammar is
DAV:basicsearch, the scope is also recipes.com.
SEARCH / HTTP/1.1
Host: recipes.com
Content-Type: application/xml
Connection: Close
Content-Length: 257
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<D:searchrequest xmlns:D="DAV:" xmlns:F="FOO:" >
<D:basicsearch>
<D:select>
<D:queryschema/>
</D:select>
<D:from><D:scope><D:href>http://recipes.com</d:href></D:scope></D
:from>
</D:basicsearch>
</D:searchrequest>
Response:
HTTP/1.1 207 Multistatus
Content-Type: application/xml
Content-Length: 428
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<D:multistatus xmlns:D="DAV:">
<D:response>
<D:href>http://recipes.com</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:querygrammar>
<D:basicsearchschema>
See section 5.19.9 for actual contents
</D:basicsearchschema>
</D:querygrammar>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 Okay</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
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</D:multistatus>
5. THE DAV:BASICSEARCH GRAMMAR
5.1. Introduction
DAV:basicsearch uses an extensible XML syntax that allows clients
to express search requests that are generally useful for WebDAV
scenarios. DASL-extended servers MUST accept this grammar, and
MAY accept others grammars.
DAV:basicsearch has several major components: DAV:select,
DAV:from, DAV:where, DAV:sortby, and DAV:limit. DAV:select
provides the result record definition. DAV:from defines the
scope. DAV:where defines the criteria. DAV:sortby defines the
sort order of the result set. DAV:limit provides constraints on
the query as a whole.
5.2. The DAV:basicsearch DTD
<!ELEMENT basicsearch (select, from, where?, sortby?, limit?)
>
<!ELEMENT select (allprop | prop) >
<!ELEMENT from (scope) >
<!ELEMENT scope (href, depth?) >
<!ENTITY %comp_ops "eq | lt | gt| lte | gte">
<!ENTITY %log_ops "and | or | not">
<!ENTITY %special_ops "isdefined">
<!ENTITY %string_ops "like">
<!ENTITY %content_ops "contains">
<!ENTITY %all_ops "%comp_ops; | %log_ops; | %special_ops;
|
%string_ops; | %content_ops;">
<!ELEMENT where ( %all_ops; ) >
<!ELEMENT and ( ( %all_ops; ) +) >
<!ELEMENT or ( ( %all_ops; ) +) >
<!ELEMENT not ( %all_ops; ) >
<!ELEMENT lt ( prop , literal ) >
<!ATTLIST lt casesensitive
(1|0) 1 >
<!ELEMENT lte ( prop , literal ) >
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<!ATTLIST lte casesensitive
(1|0) 1 >
<!ELEMENT gt ( prop , literal) >
<!ATTLIST gt casesensitive
(1|0) 1 >
<!ELEMENT gte ( prop , literal ) >
<!ATTLIST gte casesensitive
(1|0) 1 >
<!ELEMENT eq ( prop , literal ) >
<!ATTLIST eq casesensitive
(1|0) 1 >
<!ELEMENT literal (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST literal xml:space (default|preserve) preserve >
<!ELEMENT isdefined (prop) >
<!ELEMENT like (prop, literal) >
<!ELEMENT contains (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT sortby (order+) >
<!ELEMENT order (prop, (ascending | descending)?)
<!ATTLIST order casesensitive
(1|0) 1 >
<!ELEMENT ascending EMPTY>
<!ELEMENT descending EMPTY>
<!ELEMENT limit (nresults) >
<!ELEMENT nresults (#PCDATA) >
5.2.1. Example Query
This query retrieves the content length values for all resources
located under the server's "/container1/" URI namespace whose
length exceeds 10000.
<d:searchrequest>
<d:basicsearch>
<d:select>
<d:prop><d:getcontentlength/></d:prop>
</d:select>
<d:from>
<d:scope>
<d:href>/container1/</d:href>
<d:depth>infinity</d:depth>
</d:scope>
</d:from>
<d:where>
<d:gt>
<d:prop><d:getcontentlength/></d:prop>
<d:literal>10000</d:literal>
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</d:gt>
</d:where>
<d:sortby>
<d:order>
<d:prop><d:getcontentlength/><d:prop>
<d:ascending/>
</d:order>
</d:sortby>
</d:basicsearch>
</d:searchrequest>
5.3. DAV:select
DAV:select defines the result record. This document defines two
possible values: DAV:allprop and DAV:prop, both defined in
[WebDAV].
If the value is DAV:allprop, the result record for a given
resource includes all the properties for that resource.
If the value is DAV:prop, then the result record for a given
resource includes only those properties named by the DAV:prop
element. Each property named by the DAV:prop element must be
referenced in the Multistatus response.
The rules governing the status codes for each property match
those of the PROPFIND method defined in [WebDAV].
5.4. DAV:from
DAV:from defines the query scope. This contains exactly one
DAV:scope element. The scope element contains a mandatory
DAV:href element and an optional DAV:depth element.
DAV:href indicates the URI for a collection to use as a scope.
When the scope is a collection, if DAV:depth is "1", the search
includes the members of the collection. When it is "infinity",
the search includes all recursive members of the
collection.8.5.1.
5.4.1. Relationship to the Request-URI
If the DAV:scope element is an absolute URI, the scope is exactly
that URI.
If the DAV:scope element is a relative URI, the scope is taken to
be relative to the request-URI.
5.4.2. Scope
A Scope can be an arbitrary URI.
Servers, of course, may support only particular scopes. This may
include limitations for particular schemes such as "http:" or
"ftp:" or certain URI namespaces.
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If a scope is given that is not supported the server MUST respond
with a 400 status code that includes a Multistatus error. A
scope in the query appears as a resource in the response and must
include an appropriate status code indicating its validity with
respect to the search arbiter.
Example:
HTTP/1.1 400 Multi-Status
Content-Type: text/xml
Content-Length: 428
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<d:multistatus xmlns:D="DAV:" xmlns:F="FOO:" >
<d:response>
<d:href>http://www.foo.com/scope1</d:href>
<d:status>HTTP/1.1 502 Bad Gateway</d:status>
</d:response>
</d:response>
</d:multistatus>
This example shows the response if there is a scope error. The
response provides a Multistatus with a status for the scope. In
this case, the scope cannot be reached because the server cannot
search another server (502).
5.5. DAV:where
DAV:where element defines the search condition for inclusion of
resources in the result set. The value of this element is an XML
element that defines a search operator that evaluates to one of
the Boolean truth values TRUE, FALSE, or UNKNOWN. The search
operator contained by DAV:where may itself contain and evaluate
additional search operators as operands, which in turn may
contain and evaluate additional search operators as operands,
etc. recursively.
5.5.1. Use of Three-Valued Logic in Queries
Each operator defined for use in the where clause that returns a
Boolean value MUST evaluate to TRUE, FALSE, or UNKNOWN. The
resource under scan is included as a member of the result set if
and only if the search condition evaluates to TRUE.
Consult Appendix A for details on the application of three-valued
logic in query expressions.
5.5.2. Handling Optional operators
If a query provides an operator that is not supported by the
server, then the server MUST respond with a 422 (Unprocessable
Entity) status code.
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5.5.3. Treatment of NULL Values
If a SEARCH PROPFIND for a property value would yield a 404 or
403 response for that property, then that property is considered
NULL.
NULL values are "less than" all other values in comparisons.
Empty strings (zero length strings) are not NULL values. An
empty string is "less then" a string with length greater than
zero.
The DAV:isdefined operator is defined to test if the value of a
property is NULL.
5.5.4. Example: Testing for Equality
The example shows a single operator (DAV:eq) applied in the
criteria.
<d:where>
<d:eq>
<d:prop> <d:getcontentlength/> </d:prop>
<d:literal> 100 </d:literal>
</d:eq>
</d:where>
5.5.5. Example: Relative Comparisons
The example shows a more complex operation involving several
operators (DAV:and, DAV:eq, DAV:gt) applied in the criteria. This
DAV:where expression matches those resources that are
"image/gifs" over 4K in size.
<D:where>
<D:and>
<D:eq>
<D:prop> <D:getcontenttype/> </D:prop>
<D:literal> image/gif </D:literal>
</D:eq>
<D:gt>
<D:prop> <D:getcontentlength/> </D:prop>
<D:literal> 4096 </D:literal>
</D:gt>
</D:and>
</D:where>
5.6. DAV:sortby
The DAV:sortby element specifies the ordering of the result set.
It contains one or more DAV:order elements, each of which
specifies a comparison between two items in the result set.
Informally, a comparison specifies a test that determines whether
one resource appears before another in the result set.
Comparisons are applied in the order they occur in the DAV:sortby
element, earlier comparisons being more significant.
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The comparisons defined here use only a single property from each
resource, compared using the same ordering as the DAV:lt operator
(ascending) or DAV:gt operator (descending). If neither direction
is specified, the default is DAV:ascending.
In the context of the DAV:sortby element, null values are
considered to collate before any actual (i.e., non null) value,
including strings of zero length (as in ANSI standard SQL, c.f.,
ANSI X3.135-1992).
5.6.1. Comparing Natural Language Strings.
Comparisons on strings take into account the language defined for
that property. Clients MAY specify the language using the
xml:lang attribute. If no language is specified either by the
client or defined for that property by the server or if a
comparison is performed on strings of two different languages,
the results are undefined.
The DAV:casesensitive attribute may be used to indicate case-
sensitivity for comparisons.
5.6.2. Example of Sorting
This sort orders first by last name of the author, and then by
size, in descending order, so that the largest works appear
first.
<d:sortby>
<d:order>
<d:prop><r:lastname/></d:prop>
<d:ascending/>
</d:order>
<d:order>
<d:prop><d:getcontentlength/></d:prop>
<d:descending/>
</d:order>
</d:sortby>
5.7. Boolean Operators: DAV:and, DAV:or, and DAV:not
The DAV:and operator performs a logical AND operation on the
expressions it contains.
The DAV:or operator performs a logical OR operation on the values
it contains.
The DAV:not operator performs a logical NOT operation on the
values it contains.
5.8. DAV:eq
The DAV:eq operator provides simple equality matching on property
values.
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The DAV:casesensitive attribute may be used with this element.
5.9. DAV:lt, DAV:lte, DAV:gt, DAV:gte
The DAV:lt, DAV:lte, DAV:gt, and DAV:gte operators provide
comparisons on property values. The DAV:casesensitive attribute
may be used with these elements.
5.10. DAV:literal
DAV:literal allows literal values to be placed in an expression.
Because white space in literal values is significant to in
comparisons, DAV:literal makes use of the xml:space attribute to
identify this significance. The default value of this attribute
for DAV:literal is preserve. Consult section 2.10 of [XML] for
more information on the use of this attribute.
5.11. DAV:isdefined
The DAV:isdefined operator allows clients to determine whether a
property is defined on a resource on a resource. The meaning of
"defined on a resource" is found in section 5.5.3.
Example:
<d:isdefined>
<d:prop><x:someprop/></d:prop>
</d:isdefined>
The DAV:isdefined operator is optional.
5.12. DAV:like
The DAV:like is an optional operator intended to give simple
wildcard-based pattern matching ability to clients.
The operator takes two arguments.
The first argument is a DAV:prop element identifying a single
property to evaluate.
The second argument is a DAV:literal element that gives the
pattern matching string.
5.12.1. Syntax for the Literal Pattern
Pattern := [wildcard] 0*( text [wildcard] )
wildcard := exactlyone | zeroormore
text := 1*( <octet> | escapesequence )
exactlyone : = "?"
zeroormore := "%"
escapechar := "\"
escapesequence := "\" ( exactlyone | zeroormore | escapechar )
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The value for the literal is composed of wildcards separated by
segments of text. Wildcards may begin or end the literal.
Wildcards may not be adjacent.
The "?" wildcard matches exactly one character.
The "%" wildcard matches zero or more characters
The "\" character is an escape sequence so that the literal can
include "?" and "%". To include the "\" character in the
pattern, the escape sequence "\\" is used..
5.12.2. Example of DAV:like
This example shows how a client might use DAV:like to identify
those resources whose content type was a subtype of image.
<D:where>
<D:like>
<D:prop><D:getcontenttype/></D:prop>
<D:literal>image%</D:literal>
</D:like>
</D:where>
5.13. DAV:contains
The DAV:contains operator provides content based search
capability. This operator implicitly searches against the text
content of a resource, not against content of properties. The
DAV:contains operator is intentionally not overly constrained, in
order to allow the server to do the best job it can in performing
the search.
The DAV:contains operator evaluates to a Boolean value. It
evaluates to TRUE if the content of the resource satisfies the
search. Otherwise, It evaluates to FALSE.
Within the DAV:contains XML element, the client provides a
phrase: a single word or whitespace delimited sequence of words.
Servers MAY ignore punctuation in a phrase. Case-sensitivity is
left to the server.
The following things may or may not be done as part of the
search: Phonetic methods such as soundex may or may not be
used. Word stemming may or may not be performed. Thesaurus
expansion of words may or may not be done. Right or left
truncation may or may not be performed. The search may be case
insensitive or case sensitive. The word or words may or may not
be interpreted as names. Multiple words may or may not be
required to be adjacent or "near" each other. Multiple words may
or may not be required to occur in the same order. Multiple words
may or may not be treated as a phrase. The search may or may not
be interpreted as a request to find documents "similar" to the
string operand.
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The DAV:score property is intended to be useful to rank documents
satisfying the DAV:Contains operator.
5.13.1. Example
The example below shows a search for the phrase Peter Forsberg.
Depending on its support for content-based searching, a server
MAY treat this as a search for documents that contain the words
Peter and Forsberg.
<D:where>
<D:contains>Peter Forsberg</D:contains>
</D:where>
5.13.2. Example
The example below shows a search for resources that contain
Peter and Forsberg.
<D:where>
<D:and>
<D:contains>Peter</D:contains>
<D:contains>Forsberg</D:contains>
</D:and>
</D:where>
5.14. The DAV:limit XML Element
<!ELEMENT limit (nresults) >
The DAV:limit XML element contains requested limits from the
client to limit the size of the reply or amount of effort
expended by the server.
5.15. The DAV:nresults XML Element
<!ELEMENT nresults (#PCDATA)> ;only digits
The DAV:nresults XML element contains a requested maximum number
of records to be returned in a reply. The server MAY disregard
this limit. The value of this element is an integer.
5.16. The DAV:casesensitive XML attribute
The DAV:casesensitive attribute allows clients to specify case-
sensitive or case-insensitive behavior for DAV:basicsearch
operators.
The possible values for DAV:casesensitive are "1" or "0". The "1"
value indicates case-sensitivity. The "0" value indicates case-
insensitivity. The default value is server-specified.
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Support for the DAV:casesensitive is optional. A server should
respond with an error 422 if the DAV:casesensitive attribute is
used but cannot be supported.
5.17. The DAV:score Property
<!ELEMENT score (#PCDATA)>
The DAV:score XML element is a synthetic property whose value is
defined only in the context of a query result where the server
computes a score, e.g. based on relevance. It may be used in
DAV:select or DAV:sortby elements. Servers SHOULD support this
property. The value is a string representing the score, an
integer from zero to 10000 inclusive, where a higher value
indicates a higher score (e.g. more relevant).
Clients should note that, in general, it is not meaningful to
compare the numeric values of scores from two different queries
unless both were executed by the same underlying search system on
the same collection of resources.
5.18. The DAV:iscollection Property
<!ELEMENT iscollection (#PCDATA)>
The DAV:iscollection XML element is a synthetic property whose
value is defined only in the context of a query.
The property is TRUE (the literal string "1") of a resource if
and only if a PROPFIND of the DAV:resourcetype property for that
resource would contain the DAV:collection XML element. The
property is FALSE (the literal string "0") otherwise.
Rationale: This property is provided in lieu of defining generic
structure queries, which would suffice for this and for many more
powerful queries, but seems inappropriate to standardize at this
time.
5.18.1. Exampe of DAV:iscollection
This example shows a search criterion that picks out all and only
the resources in the scope that are collections.
<D:where>
<D:eq>
<D:prop><D:iscollection></D:prop>
<D:literal>1<D:literal>
</D:eq>
</D:where>
5.19. Query Schema for DAV:basicsearch
The DAV:basicsearch grammar defines a search criteria that is a
Boolean-valued expression, and allows for an arbitrary set of
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properties to be included in the result record. The result set
may be sorted on a set of property values. Accordingly the DTD
for schema discovery for this grammar allows the server to
express:
@ the set of properties that may be either searched, returned,
or used to sort, and a hint about the data type of such
properties
@ the set of optional operators defined by the resource.
5.19.1. DTD for DAV:basicsearch QSD
<!ELEMENT basicsearchschema (properties, operators)>
<!ELEMENT properties (propdesc*)>
<!ELEMENT propdesc (prop, ANY)>
<!ELEMENT operators (opdesc*)>
<!ELEMENT opdesc ANY>
<!ELEMENT operand_property EMPTY>
<!ELEMENT operand_literal EMPTY>
The DAV:properties element holds a list of descriptions of
properties.
The DAV:operators element describes the optional operators that
may be used in a DAV:where element.
5.19.2. DAV:propdesc Element
Each instance of a DAV:propdesc element describes the property or
properties in the DAV:prop element it contains. All subsequent
elements are descriptions that apply to those properties. All
descriptions are optional and may appear in any order. Servers
SHOULD support all the descriptions defined here, and MAY define
others.
DASL defines four descriptions. The first, DAV:datatype,
provides a hint about the type of the property value, and may be
useful to a user interface prompting for a value. The remaining
three (DAV:searchable, DAV:selectable, and DAV:sortable) identify
portions of the query (DAV:where, DAV:select, and DAV:sortby,
respectively). If a property has a description for a section,
then the server MUST allow the property to be used in that
section. These descriptions are optional. If a property does not
have such a description, or is not described at all, then the
server MAY still allow the property to be used in the
corresponding section.
5.19.3. The DAV:datatype Property Description
The DAV:datatype element contains a single XML element that
provides a hint about the domain of the property, which may be
useful to a user interface prompting for a value to be used in a
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query. The namespace for expressing a DASL defined data type is
"urn:uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882/".
<!ELEMENT datatype ANY >
DASL defines the following data type elements:
name contents
example
Boolean 1
0
string Foobar
int -259
23
float .3141592653589
79E+1
5.33
dateTime.is 1994-11-
o8601tz 05T08:15:5Z
If the data type of a property is not given, then the data type
defaults to string.
5.19.4. The DAV:searchable Property Description
<!ELEMENT searchable EMPTY >
If this element is present, then the server MUST allow this
property to appear within a DAV:where element where an operator
allows a property. Allowing a search does not mean that the
property is guaranteed to be defined on every resource in the
scope, it only indicates the server's willingness to check.
5.19.5. The DAV:selectable Property Description
<!ELEMENT selectable EMPTY >
This element indicates that the property may appear in the
DAV:select element.
5.19.6. The DAV:sortable Property Description
This element indicates that the property may appear in the
DAV:sortby element
<!ELEMENT sortable EMPTY >
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5.19.7. The DAV:casesensitive Property Description
This element only applies to properties whose data type is
"string" as per the DAV:datatype property description. Its
presence indicates that compares performed for searches, and the
comparisons for ordering results on the string property will be
case sensitive. (The default is case insensitive.)
<!ELEMENT casesensitive EMPTY >
5.19.8. The DAV:operators XML Element
The DAV:operators element describes every optional operator
supported in a query. (Mandatory operators are not listed since
they are mandatory and permit no variation in syntax.). All
optional operators that are supported MUST be listed in the
DAV:operators element. The listing for an operator consists of
the operator (as an empty element), followed by one element for
each operand. The operand MUST be either DAV:operand_property or
DAV:operand_literal, which indicate that the operand in the
corresponding position is a property or a literal value,
respectively. If an operator is polymorphic (allows more than
one operand syntax) then each permitted syntax MUST be listed
separately.
<D:propdesc><D:like/><D:operand_property/><D:operand_literal/></D
:propdesc>
5.19.9. Example of Query Schema for DAV:basicsearch
<D:basicsearchschema xmlns:D="DAV:" xmlns:t="urn:uuid:C2F41010-
65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882/" xmlns:J=" http://jennicam.org ">
<D:properties>
<D:propdesc>
<D:prop><D:getcontentlength/></D:prop>
<D:datatype><t:int></D:datatype>
<D:searchable/><D:selectable/><D:sortable/>
</D:propdesc>
<D:propdesc>
<D:prop><D:getcontenttype/><D:displayname></D:prop>
<D:searchable/><D:selectable/> <D:sortable/>
</D:propdesc>
<D:propdesc>
<D:prop><J:fstop/></D:prop>
<D:selectable/>
</D:propdesc>
</D:properties>
<D:operators>
<D:opdesc><D:isdefined/><D:operand_property/></D:opdesc>
<D:opdesc><D:like/><D:operand_property/><D:operand_literal/></D:o
pdesc>
</D:operators>
</D:basicsearchschema>
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This response lists four properties. The datatype of the last
three properties is not given, so it defaults to string. All are
selectable, and the first three may be searched. All but the
last may be used in a sort. Of the optional DAV operators,
DAV:isdefined and DAV:like are supported.
Note: The schema discovery defined here does not provide for
discovery of supported values of the DAV:casesensitive attribute.
This may require that the reply also list the mandatory
operators.
6. INTERNATIONALIZATION CONSIDERATIONS
Clients have the opportunity to tag properties when they are
stored in a language. The server SHOULD read this language-
tagging by examining the xml:lang attribute on any properties
stored on a resource.
The xml:lang attribute specifies a nationalized collation
sequence when properties are compared.
Comparisons when this attribute differs have undefined order.
7. SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
This section is provided to detail issues concerning security
implications of which DASL applications need to be aware. All of
the security considerations of HTTP/1.1 also apply to DASL. In
addition, this section will include security risks inherent in
searching and retrieval of resource properties and content.
A query must not allow one to retrieve information about values
or existence of properties that one could not obtain via
PROPFIND. (e.g. by use in DAV:sortby, or in expressions on
properties.)
Server should prepare for denial of service attacks. For example
a client may issue a query for which the result set is expensive
to calculate or transmit because many resources match or must be
evaluated.
8. SCALABILITY
Query grammars are identified by URIs. Applications SHOULD not
attempt to retrieve these URIs even if they appear to be
retrievable (for example, those that begin with "http://")
9. AUTHENTICATION
Authentication mechanisms defined in WebDAV will also apply to
DASL.
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10. IANA CONSIDERATIONS
This document uses the namespace defined by [WebDAV] for XML
elements. All other IANA considerations mentioned in [WebDAV]
also applicable to DASL
11. COPYRIGHT
To be supplied.
12. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
To be supplied.
13. REFERENCES
[DASLREQ] S. Reddy, J.Slein, "Requirements for DAV Searching and
Locating", March 1998, internet-draft, work-in-progress, draft-
davis-dasl-requirements-00.txt
[RFC2068] R. Fielding, J. Gettys, J. C. Mogul, H. Frystyk, and T.
Berners-Lee, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1", RFC 2068,
U.C. Irvine, DEC, MIT/LCS, January 1997.
[RFC2119] S. Bradner, "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels." RFC 2119, BCP 14. Harvard University. March,
1997.
[WebDAV] Y. Goland, E.J. Whitehead, A. Faizi, S.R. Carter, D.
Jenson, "Extensions for Distributed Authoring on the World Wide
Web", April. 1998, internet-draft, work-in-progress, draft-ietf-
webdav-protocol-08.
[XML] T. Bray, J. Paoli, C. M. Sperberg-McQueen, "Extensible
Markup Language (XML) 1.0", February, 1998, W3C Recommendation.
[XMLNS] T. Bray, D. Hollander, A. Layman, "Namespaces in XML",
August, 1998, W3C Working Draft.
14. AUTHOR'S ADDRESSES
Saveen Reddy
Microsoft
One Microsoft Way
Redmond WA, 9085-6933
Email:saveenr@microsoft.com
Dale Lowry
Novell
1555 N. Technology Way
M/S ORM-M-314
Orem, UT 84097
Email: dlowry@novell.com
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Surendra Reddy
Oracle Corporation
600 Oracle Parkway, M/S 6op3,
Redwoodshores, CA 94065
Email: skreddy@us.oracle.com
Phone:(650) 506 5441
Rick Henderson
Netscape
Email: rickh@netscape.com
Jim Davis
Xerox PARC
3333 Coyote Hill Road
Palo Alto CA 94304
650-812-4301
Email: jdavis@parc.xerox.com
Alan Babich
Filenet
3565 Harbor Blvd.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
714-966-3403
Email: ababich@filenet.com
15. APPENDICES
Appendix A Three-Valued Logic in DAV:basicsearch
ANSI standard three valued logic is used when evaluating the
search condition (as defined in the ANSI standard SQL
specifications, for example in ANSI X3.135-1992, section 8.12,
pp. 188-189, section 8.2, p. 169, General Rule 1)a), etc.).
ANSI standard three valued logic is undoubtedly the most widely
practiced method of dealing with the issues of properties in the
search condition not having a value (e.g., being null or not
defined) for the resource under scan, and with undefined
expressions in the search condition (e.g., division by zero,
etc.). Three valued logic works as follows.
Undefined expressions are expressions for which the value of the
expression is not defined. Undefined expressions are a completely
separate concept from the truth value UNKNOWN, which is, in fact,
well defined. Property names and literal constants are considered
expressions for purposes of this section. If a property in the
current resource under scan has not been set to a value (either
because the property is not defined for the current resource, or
because it is null for the current resource), then the value of
that property is undefined for the resource under scan. DASL 1.0
has no arithmetic division operator, but if it did, division by
zero would be an undefined arithmetic expression.
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If any subpart of an arithmetic, string, or datetime
subexpression is undefined, the whole arithmetic, string, or
datetime subexpression is undefined.
There are no manifest constants to explicitly represent undefined
number, string, or datetime values.
Since a Boolean value is ultimately returned by the search
condition, arithmetic, string, and datetime expressions are
always arguments to other operators. Examples of operators that
convert arithmetic, string, and datetime expressions to Boolean
values are the six relational operators ("greater than", "less
than", "equals", etc.). If either or both operands of a
relational operator have undefined values, then the relational
operator evaluates to UNKNOWN. Otherwise, the relational operator
evaluates to TRUE or FALSE, depending upon the outcome of the
comparison.
The Boolean operators DAV:and, DAV:or and DAV:not are evaluated
according to the following rules:
UNKNOWN and UNKNOWN = UNKNOWN
UNKNOWN or UNKKNOWN = UNKNOWN
not UNKNOWN = UNKNOWN
UNKNOWN and TRUE = UNKNOWN
UNKNOWN and FALSE = FALSE
UNKNOWN and UNKNOWN = UNKNOWN
UNKNOWN or TRUE = TRUE
UNKNOWN or FALSE = UNKNOWN
UNKNOWN or UNKNOWN = UNKNOWN
16. CHANGE HISTORY
Feb 14, 1998
Initial Draft
Feb 28, 1998
Referring to DASL as an extension to HTTP/1.1 rather than DAV
Added new sections "Notational Conventions", "Protocol Model",
"Security Considerations"
Changed section 3 to "Elements of Protocol"
Added some stuff to introduction
Added "result set" terminology
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Added "IANA Considerations".
Mar 9, 1998
Moved sub-headings of "Elements of Protocol" to first level and
removed "Elements of Protocol" Heading.
Added an sentence in introduction explaining that this is a
"sketch" of a protocol.
Mar 11, 1998
Added sortby, data typing, three valued logic, query schema
property, and element definitions for schema for basicsearch.
April 8, 1998
- made changes based on last weeks DASL BOF.
May 8, 1998
Removed most of DAV:searcherror; converted to DAV:searchredirect
Altered DAV:basicsearch grammar to use avoid use of ANY in DTD
June 17, 1998
-Added details on Query Schema Discovery
-Shortened list of data types
June 23, 1998
moved data types before change history
rewrote the data types section
removed the casesensitive element and replace with the
casesensitive attribute
added the casesensitive attribute to the DTD for all operations
that might work on a string
Jul 20, 1998
A series of changes. See Authors meeting minutes for details.
July 28, 1998
Changes as per author's meeting. QSD uses SEARCH, not PROPFIND.
Moved text around to keep concepts nearby.
Boolean literals are 1 and 0, not T and F.
Reddy, et al [Page 31]
INTERNET-DRAFT DASL Tuesday, July 28, 1998
contains changed to contentspassthrough.
Renamed rank to score.
July 28, 1998
Added Dale Lowry as Author
September 4, 1998
Added 422 as response when query lists unimplemented operators.
dav:literal declares a default value for xml:space, 'preserve'
(see XML spec, section 2.10)
moved to new XML namespace syntax
September 22, 1998
Changed "simplesearch" to "basicsearch"
Changed isnull to isdefined
Defined NULLness as having a 404 or 403 response
used ENTITY syntax in DTD
Added redirect
October 9, 1998
Fixed a series of typographical and formatting errors.
Modified the section of three-valued logic to use a table rather
than a text description of the role of UNKNOWN in expressions.
November 2, 1998
Added the DAV:contains operator.
Removed the DAV:contentpassthrough operator.
Reddy, et al [Page 32]