Question on PartyRef

[Jean Zheng <Jzheng@vitria.com>]

This might seem very obvious to people who are involved in cpp/a spec 1.0.
But I'd appreciate it if I can get some insight/clarification on this.

Section 7.5.2 PartyRef element (line 660-674):
"The PartyRef element provides a link, in the form of a URI, to additional
information about the party...The information might be at the party's web
site or in a publicly accessible repository such as an ebXML Registry, a
UDDI repository, or an LDAP directory.  Information available at the URI MAY
include contact names, addresses, and phone numbers...."

However, it doesn't seem to specify the exact definition for the "type" of
url (e.g. is it a web page? an ebXML registry, a UDDI, or LDAP), nor does it
specify the correct structure of the information that is stored at the
particular location.

Without the above information, it does not seem possible to "automatically"
populate the related Party information during importing/exporting a CPP.

In IBM's original tpaML, the PartyInfo are stored locally inside a "CPP".  

I'm sure there was a reason when those information were moved out and
replaced by PartyRef.  I'm just not sure what the reason is, and what is the
correct way to interpret the current PartyRef element at programming level.

Thanks a bunch!  :)

Jean