RE: [wsrf] Proposed resolution - re: InitialValues for properties in WS-RMD

["Murray, Bryan P." <bryan.murray@hp.com>]

Dan,

 

I will add this issue as you wrote it to the issues list.

 

 

My comments on this issue:

 

Maybe I am getting confused by the terminology, but to me something called "initial" values in a metadata document would not be modified, added or removed over time. The initial values would be used to initialize properties when a resource was created. After creation, the initial values metadata has no further use. The current value of the resource properties are available from the resource, but the initialValue metadata has no meaning once the resource has been created. With this understanding of the semantics, this metadata has minimal value to a client interacting with a resource having these initial values, as an instant after creation the resource is running and having its values changed to reflect the state of the resource.

 

What am I missing? I don't understand how the initial values is useful to a client. The metadata is only an advertisement about the service, but why advertise something that has minimal value?

 

Bryan

---

From: Daniel Jemiolo [mailto:danjemiolo@us.ibm.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 11:40 AM
To: wsrf@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: [wsrf] Proposed resolution - re: InitialValues for properties in WS-RMD

On the TC call on 4/3/06, I proposed 
that we (re-)add the concept of initial values to the WS-RMD spec. This issue 
does not have a number yet. Below is a description of the issue and the proposed 
resolution. 

When programming against 
the RMD spec, it is often necessary to seed a property with a set of initial 
values that are known at design time. A better term might be "default" values. 
The difference between these initial values and the concept of static values 
already in the spec is that initial values should be mutable, while static 
values are not. 

The definition of 
initial values in an RMD document would be just like that of static values. For 
example, a property named MyProperty of type integer might have the following 
definition: 


<wsrmd:Property 
path="myns:MyProperty" ... > 
  
 <wsrmd:InitialValues> 
  
    <myns:MyProperty>123</myns:MyProperty> 
      
<myns:MyProperty>456</myns:MyProperty> 
   </wsrmd:InitialValues> 
</wsrmd:Property> 


If the property is mutable, these 
initial values may be deleted or updated over the resource's lifetime. Again, 
this is different from static values because even on mutable properties, static 
instances are never deleted or updated. 

The proposed resolution is to add the initial values concept to RMD by 
copying the section on static values (8.4), doing a search-and-replace 
(StaticValues -> InitialValues), and modifying the two introductory sentences 
to describe the role of initial values. The schema and infoset figures (in 
section 8 and appendices) will also need to be updated to reflect this 
option. 





Dan 
Jemiolo
IBM Corporation
Research Triangle Park, NC


+++ I'm an 
engineer. I make slides that people can't read. Sometimes I eat donuts. 
+++