Re: [unitsml] Addition to conversion options

["Peter J. Linstrom" <peter.linstrom@nist.gov>]

Stuart,

   Thank you for this useful contribution. After reviewing
your contribution I believe there are a few refinements that
should be considered for the proposed conversion type.

1.) I think that in your example below "inputValue"
    should not be denoted with the MethodParameter element,
    since it will differ for each call to the service. This
    parameter name needs to be documented somewhere in
    the WSDLConversionFrom element.

2.) I think the WSDLConversionFrom element needs to provide
    more information about the format of data the input and
    output of the service. I really have not thought carefully
    about this but I think we will need more information here.

Peter

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stuart Chalk" <schalk@unf.edu>
To: <unitsml@lists.oasis-open.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 3:32 PM
Subject: [unitsml] Addition to conversion options


In the teleconference I took on the responsibility of adding an
additional conversion option to the schema - a WSDLConversionFrom
option. After looking into this, and assuming that it would be a
parser (or other automated processing) that would use this feature,
the following is what I came up with that would need to be added to
the current (0.9.11) schema.

1) Insert another option in the Conversions Sequence

<xsd:complexType name="ConversionsType">
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>Type for the container for providing conversion
information to other units.</xsd:documentation>
</xsd:annotation>
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:element ref="Float64ConversionFrom" minOccurs="0"
maxOccurs="unbounded">
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>Element for providing factors for a conversion
equation from another unit; y = d + ((b / c) (x + a)). Note: The
related "conversion to" equation is a simple inversion of the above
equation; i.e., x = ((c / b) (y - d)) - a.</xsd:documentation>
</xsd:annotation>
</xsd:element>
<xsd:element ref="SpecialConversionFrom" minOccurs="0"
maxOccurs="unbounded">
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>Element for describing a conversion that
cannot be described by the linear expression in the element
Float64ConversionFrom.</xsd:documentation>
</xsd:annotation>
</xsd:element>
<xsd:element ref="WSDLConversionFrom" minOccurs="0"
maxOccurs="unbounded">
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>Element for providing conversion based on SOAP/
WSDL calls to a remote server.</xsd:documentation>
</xsd:annotation>
</xsd:element>
</xsd:sequence>
</xsd:complexType>

2) Add a new element definition after SpecialConversionFrom

<xsd:element name="WSDLConversionFrom" type="WSDLConversionFromType">
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>Element for providing conversion based on SOAP/
WSDL calls to a remote server.</xsd:documentation>
</xsd:annotation>
</xsd:element>

3) Add a a new complexType definition after SpecialConversionFrom

<xsd:complexType name="WSDLConversionFromType">
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>Type for the element for providing unit
conversion information for conversions that are more complex than the
Float64ConversionFrom linear equation.</xsd:documentation>
</xsd:annotation>
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:element ref="ConversionDescription" minOccurs="0"
maxOccurs="unbounded">
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>Description of the conversion.</
xsd:documentation>
</xsd:annotation>
</xsd:element>
<xsd:element ref="ServiceMethod" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"
type="xsd:string">
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>The name of the method on the WSDL service
that will do the conversion.</xsd:documentation>
</xsd:annotation>
</xsd:element>
<xsd:element ref="MethodParameter" minOccurs="1"
maxOccurs="unbounded" type="xsd:string">
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>The name of the method on the WSDL service
that will do the conversion.</xsd:documentation>
</xsd:annotation>
<xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" use="required"/>
</xsd:element>
</xsd:sequence>
<xsd:attribute name="ID" type="xsd:token">
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>Allows reference to this conversion.</
xsd:documentation>
</xsd:annotation>
</xsd:attribute>
<xsd:attribute name="WSDLURI" type="xsd:anyURI" use="required">
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>URI for external WSDL definition file.</
xsd:documentation>
</xsd:annotation>
</xsd:attribute>
<xsd:attribute name="WSDLMethod" use="required">
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>URI for external WSDL definition file.</
xsd:documentation>
</xsd:annotation>
<xsd:simpleType>
<xsd:restriction base="xsd:token">
<xsd:enumeration value="soap"/>
<xsd:enumeration value="get"/>
</xsd:restriction>
</simpleType>
</xsd:attribute>
</xsd:complexType>


An example might look like this

<Conversions>
     <WSDLConversionFrom id="wsdl1" 
WSDLURI="http://www.somewebsite.com/converter/wsdl
" WSDLMethod="soap">
         <ServiceMethod>convertUnit</ServiceMethod>
         <MethodParameter name="inputValue">82</MethodParameter>
         <MethodParameter name="inputUnit">°C</MethodParameter>
         <MethodParameter name="outputUnit">K</MethodParameter>
     </WSDLConversionFrom>
</Conversions>

The WSDL Method attribute tells the parser wether to generate a SOAP
request or an HTTP GET request to perform the service.

As I have been working on this I have not had chance to 1) write up my
comments on the guideline document or scan the schema for other
elements that need to have the language added to them.  I will work on
those for the next meeting.

Stuart