AS3 Discusion - Section 5 - AS3-Specific Headers

["Terry Harding" <tharding@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Open for discussion

5. AS3-specific Headers

5.1 AS3-From and AS3-To headers

   The AS3-From and AS3-To headers have been provided to assist the
sender
   and the recipient of an EC document to identify each other:

       AS3-From: < AS3-name >
       AS3-To:   < AS3-name >

Harding, Scott                                                 [Page 10]


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   These headers contain textual values, described by the ABNF below,
   identifying the sender/receiver of a data exchange. A value may 
   be company specific (e.g., a DUNS number), or it may be simply some
   string mutually acceptable to both trading partners used to identify
   each to the other.

       AS3-text = "!" /           ; printable ASCII characters
                  %d35-91 /       ; except double-quote (%d34)
                  %d93-126        ; or backslash (%d92)
                
       AS3-qtext = AS3-text / SP  ; allow space only in quoted text

       AS3-quoted-pair = "\" DQUOTE /  ; \" or
                         "\" "\"       ; \\
                                           
       AS3-quoted-name = DQUOTE 1*128( AS3-qtext / 
                         AS3-quoted-pair) DQUOTE

       AS3-atomic-name = 1*128AS3-text

       AS3-name = AS3-atomic-name / AS3-quoted-name

   The AS3-From header value and the AS3-To header value MUST each be an

   AS3-name comprising 1 to 128 printable ASCII characters.  The header
   MUST NOT be folded, and the value for each of these headers 
   is case-sensitive.

   The AS3-quoted-name SHOULD be used only if the AS3-name does not 
   conform to AS3-atomic-name. 

   The AS3-To and AS3-From header fields MUST be present in all AS3 
   messages and AS3 MDN's.

   Implementations which map entities such as EDI identifiers/qualifiers
   to AS3 identifiers may choose to constrain the set of AS3-To/AS3-From

   text values to a subset of the full set defined above but may not
   extend that set.  
       
   If either the AS3-From or the AS3-To or the association of the two
header
   values is determined to be invalid or unknown to the receiving
system, 
   the receiving system MAY respond with an unsigned MDN containing an 
   explanation of the error if the sending system requested an MDN, but

   it is not required to return an MDN under those circumstances.

5.2 AS3-Version header

    The AS3-Version header is a header which is required only if the
value
    of the header is not "1.0".  Its purpose is to allow systems to 
    determine which version of this specification, should the
specification
    evolve over time, the sender of a document has used to package the 
    document. A user agent MUST NOT reject a message if the version
header 
    is missing.

    AS3-Version: 1*DIGIT . 1*DIGIT
    

Harding, Scott                                                 [Page 11]


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    A version header value of "1.1" indicates an implementation can
support 
    EDIINT data compression [18]. A user agent MUST NOT send compressed 
    messages to trading partners who do not use a version header of
"1.1"
    or greater. 
*****************************************************

Terry Harding
Cyclone Commerce Inc.