Re: [search-ws] Scan as a query type

[Farrukh Najmi <farrukh@wellfleetsoftware.com>]

Ray Denenberg, Library of Congress wrote:
> In light of the multiple query type consideration, I want to kick this idea
> around before we get into the Scan discussion on the SRU list.
>
> Is it reasonable to consider modelling scan as a query type?
>
>   

A basic tenet of REST is that of a "uniform interface". See "Why the 
Uniform Interface Matters" on page 104 of the "RESTFul Web Services Book":

<http://www.amazon.com/RESTful-Web-Services-Leonard-Richardson/dp/0596529260/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195088925&sr=8-1>

My past experience with SOAP interfaces suggest that the value of a 
uniform interface is just as applicable to SOAP interfaces (see for 
example ebXML RegRep interface which does not change no matter what new 
content or meatadata type are added to the info model).

My intuitive feel is that scan would map very nicely to a query. Note 
that the result of the query could be a very specialized record that 
contains all that is necessary
to provide an adequate scan response. Such a specialized record would 
still be contained in the the standard response wrapper format we choose 
(e.g. ATOM 1.0)

-- 
Regards,
Farrukh Najmi

Web: http://www.wellfleetsoftware.com