tie method=get to getMarkup

[Richard Jacob <richard.jacob@de.ibm.com>]

It seems that we didn't discuss this issue seperatly and that the
discussion got stuck concerning this.
I was asking, as a side discussion, to tie forms with method=get more
explictly to getMarkup().
The reasoning for this is mainly that it would comply to the W3C
architecture (http://www.w3.org/TR/webarch/) and would enable use cases
where portlets use forms and add parameters to forms dynamically for their
navigation (not for changing state).
As one example I raised then, was how to solve the "URL manipulation"
requirement Rich raised by using forms with method=get and dynamically add
form params.

This would basically mean that we would need to:
- add form params to MarkuParams which would be passed with getMarkup.
- the consumer SHOULD map method=get form submissions to getMarkup()
requests. Remember method=get simply fetches a resources and should not
modify the server side state, therefor we can define these form params as
part of the navState. I.e. currentPortletNavState(encoded in
URL)+publicNavState(dynamically added)=resultingNavState for which the
portlet renders its markup.
One additional advantage here (in contrast to handling it via pbia()) is
that the Consumer can compute the cache key for that resultingNavState and
thus be able to cache this markup.

The advantages I see:
- natural representation of method=get as resource/markup fetching in
contrast to state changes in pbia()
- conformance to W3C arch
- enables cachability of pages using method=get uncluding their invokations
results, i.e. if zipcode is a form field, consumers can cache portlet
markup with zipcode=10000 and zipcode=20000. (yes, invalidation caching
would help :-) but we don't have it yet)
- enables searchability and crawlability of portlets using such forms

Mit freundlichen Gruessen / best regards,

        Richard Jacob
______________________________________________________
IBM Lab Boeblingen, Germany
Dept.8288, WebSphere Portal Server Development
WSRP Team Lead & Technical Lead
WSRP Standardization
Phone: ++49 7031 16-3469  -  Fax: ++49 7031 16-4888
Email: mailto:richard.jacob@de.ibm.com