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Re: Editorial section 9.3: updating




James M Snell wrote:

Different APP servers are going to have completely different responses.
 Some may just pick up the change to the title and summary, ignoring all
of the other changes.  Some may replace the entire entry.  Some may
reject the new entry entirely because they might not support HTML
summaries.


I see what you're saying, but this is quite surprising to me; and I find no support for it in either the HTTP or APP specs. If this is indeed the consensus of the WG, then it should be spelled out much more clearly in the spec.

Here's a concern: the serve can certainly accept everything and return a 200 OK response. It can reject everything and return various 400-level responses.

But what HTTP response code is it supposed to return if it accepts half the request and ignores the other half? If it changes the title and the summary and ignores the rest?

Here's another question: suppose I want to change the title and only the title so I send an entry document without the other parts like so:

  <entry>
    <id>urn:foo</id>
    <title>Bar</title>
    <updated>2007-13-13T13:13:13Z</updated>
  </entry

A. Can I expect the server to maintain the old summary, author, and link?
B. Can I expect the server to delete the old summary, author, and link?
C. Do I have no reason to expect either result?


If the answer is C, then this looks to be an interoperability nightmare. If it's A or B, then we need to say that clearly in the spec.


--
Elliotte Rusty Harold  elharo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Java I/O 2nd Edition Just Published!
http://www.cafeaulait.org/books/javaio2/
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