Datatypes for Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) Properties
RFC 4316

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Network Working Group                                         J. Reschke
Request for Comments: 4316                                    greenbytes
Category: Experimental                                     December 2005

    Datatypes for Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)
                               Properties

Status of This Memo

   This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
   community.  It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.
   Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested.
   Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).

Abstract

   This specification extends the Web Distributed Authoring and
   Versioning Protocol (WebDAV) to support datatyping.  Protocol
   elements are defined to let clients and servers specify the datatype,
   and to instruct the WebDAV method PROPFIND to return datatype
   information.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................2
   2. Notational Conventions ..........................................2
   3. Overview ........................................................3
   4. Changes for PROPPATCH Method ....................................4
      4.1. Example of Successful PROPPATCH ............................4
      4.2. Example of Failed PROPPATCH ................................5
      4.3. Example of Successful PROPPATCH Where Type
           Information Was Not Preserved ..............................6
   5. Changes for PROPFIND Method .....................................7
      5.1. Example of PROPFIND/prop ...................................7
   6. Changes for Other Methods .......................................8
   7. Compatibility Considerations ....................................8
   8. Internationalization Considerations .............................9
   9. Security Considerations .........................................9
   10. Acknowledgements ...............................................9
   11. References .....................................................9
      11.1. Normative References ......................................9
      11.2. Informative References ....................................9

Reschke                       Experimental                      [Page 1]
RFC 4316            Datatypes for WebDAV Properties        December 2005

1.  Introduction

   This specification builds on the infrastructure provided by the Web
   Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) Protocol, adding
   support for data-typed properties.

   Although servers must support XML content in property values, it may
   be desirable to persist values as scalar values when possible and to
   expose the data's type when the property value is returned to the
   client.  The client is free to ignore this information, but it may be
   able to take advantage of it when modifying a property.

   On the other hand, when setting new properties, it can be desirable
   to pass datatype information along with the value.  A server can take
   advantage of this information to optimize storage and to perform
   additional parsing (for instance, of dates).  Servers that support
   searching can also take advantage of known datatypes when doing
   comparisons and sorting.

   The following potential datatyping-related features were deliberately
   considered out of scope:

   o  getting "schema" information for classes of resources (set of
      "required" properties, their types, display information),

   o  definition of a set of mandatory property types,

   o  discovery of supported property types,

   o  extensions to PROPPATCH that would allow updates to parts of a
      (structured) property.

2.  Notational Conventions

   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].

   The term "property element" refers to the XML element that identifies
   a particular property, for instance,

        <getcontentlength xmlns="DAV:" />

   The term "prop element" is used for the WebDAV "prop" element as
   defined in Section 12.11 of [RFC2518].

   The XML representation of schema components uses a vocabulary
   identified by the namespace name "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema".

Reschke                       Experimental                      [Page 2]
RFC 4316            Datatypes for WebDAV Properties        December 2005

   For brevity, the text and examples in this specification use the
   prefix "xs:" to stand for this namespace; in practice, any prefix can
   be used.  "XML Schema Part 1: Structures" ([XS1]) also defines
   several attributes for direct use in any XML documents.  These
   attributes are in a different namespace named
   "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance".  For brevity, the text
   and examples in this specification use the prefix "xsi:" to stand for