[OASIS Issue Tracker] Commented: (CAMP-80) Section 6.11 "Registering an Application" is unclear about what Content-Type header must be for various scenarios

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Alex Heneveld commented on CAMP-80:
-----------------------------------

Wouldn't it be so much simpler to add some kind of "reference" keyword to our DP schema?

This would make the whole problem here go away.  We can then accept a POST, and whether it is JSON or YAML, and whether it is a DP by-value or merely a reference to another (P)DP -- we don't care at this stage.  There is no need for the `if contentType X then treatAsReference else treatAsValue` semantics.  We resolve references when we interpret the (P)DP.

This also makes things much more powerful as I can have nested references -- if I have a PDP at URL1 for a WebServer, and a PDP at URL2 for a Database, I can for instance post a DP or PDP which refers to both of those.

Relying on content type feels like a bad idea, even if it is technically possible.  Most JSON is also valid YAML, even if it isn't a formal superset as you note.  Under your proposal my DP might be valid JSON and valid YAML, but if I post it as JSON it won't work -- that will be a WTF for users.

(And please note, I did not say "JSON means PDP" -- I said "JSON means PDP *reference*".)

> Section 6.11 "Registering an Application" is unclear about what Content-Type header must be for various scenarios
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: CAMP-80
>                 URL: http://tools.oasis-open.org/issues/browse/CAMP-80
>             Project: OASIS Cloud Application Management for Platforms (CAMP) TC
>          Issue Type: Bug
>            Reporter: Gilbert Pilz
>            Priority: Critical
>
> While implementing the code for Section 6.11 I noticed that there are a couple of scenarios in which the spec is unclear about the expected Content-Type of the POST request. The more minor of these is the case in which the Consumer POSTs a JSON object that contains the URI of the PDP or DP. Since the request is JSON, an implementer can infer that the Content-Type should be "application/json", but the spec should really be clear about this just to avoid any misunderstandings.
> The second, and more serious, case is when the Consumer directly POSTs the contents of a DP in the request body.
> This is important because, as defined in the spec, Content-Type is the only information an implementation has to figure out which of the four different methods a Consumer is attempting to use when they POST to the Platform resource.

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