Dan,
I will add this issue as you wrote it to the issues
list.
My comments on this issue:
Maybe I am getting confused by the terminology, but to me
something called "initial" values in a metadata document would not be
modified, added or removed over time. The initial values would be used to
initialize properties when a resource was created. After creation, the initial
values metadata has no further use. The current value of the resource properties
are available from the resource, but the initialValue metadata has no meaning
once the resource has been created. With this understanding of the semantics,
this metadata has minimal value to a client interacting with a resource having
these initial values, as an instant after creation the resource is running and
having its values changed to reflect the state of the
resource.
What am I missing? I don't understand how the initial
values is useful to a client. The metadata is only an advertisement about the
service, but why advertise something that has minimal value?
Bryan
From: Daniel Jemiolo
[mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 11:40
AM
To:
Subject: [wsrf] Proposed
resolution - re: InitialValues for properties in WS-RMD
On the TC call on 4/3/06, I proposed
that we (re-)add the concept of initial values to the WS-RMD spec. This issue
does not have a number yet. Below is a description of the issue and the proposed
resolution.
When programming against
the RMD spec, it is often necessary to seed a property with a set of initial
values that are known at design time. A better term might be "default" values.
The difference between these initial values and the concept of static values
already in the spec is that initial values should be mutable, while static
values are not.
The definition of
initial values in an RMD document would be just like that of static values. For
example, a property named MyProperty of type integer might have the following
definition:
<wsrmd:Property
path="myns:MyProperty" ... >
<wsrmd:InitialValues>
<myns:MyProperty>123</myns:MyProperty>
<myns:MyProperty>456</myns:MyProperty>
</wsrmd:InitialValues>
</wsrmd:Property>
If the property is mutable, these
initial values may be deleted or updated over the resource's lifetime. Again,
this is different from static values because even on mutable properties, static
instances are never deleted or updated.
The proposed resolution is to add the initial values concept to RMD by
copying the section on static values (8.4), doing a search-and-replace
(StaticValues -> InitialValues), and modifying the two introductory sentences
to describe the role of initial values. The schema and infoset figures (in
section 8 and appendices) will also need to be updated to reflect this
option.
Dan
Jemiolo
IBM Corporation
Research Triangle Park, NC
+++ I'm an
engineer. I make slides that people can't read. Sometimes I eat donuts.
+++
