DAP4: Capabilities and Versioning: Difference between revisions
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==== Standard Resource Types ==== | ==== Standard Resource Types ==== | ||
* [[#DAP4 DDX]] | * [[#DAP4 DDX|DAP4 DDX]] | ||
* [[#DAP4 Data]] | * [[#DAP4 Data|DAP4 Data]] | ||
* [[#DAP4 Constraint Expression]] | * [[#DAP4 Constraint Expression|DAP4 Constraint Expression]] | ||
* [[#DAP4 Server Capabilities Document]] | * [[#DAP4 Server Capabilities Document|DAP4 Server Capabilities Document]] | ||
* [[#DAP2 DAS]] | * [[#DAP2 DAS|DAP2 DAS]] | ||
* [[#DAP2 DDS]] | * [[#DAP2 DDS|DAP2 DDS]] | ||
* [[#DAP2 DDX]] | * [[#DAP2 DDX|DAP2 DDX]] | ||
* [[#DAP2 Data]] | * [[#DAP2 Data|DAP2 Data]] | ||
* [[#DAP2 Constraint Expression]] | * [[#DAP2 Constraint Expression|DAP2 Constraint Expression]] | ||
==== Extension Resource Types ==== | ==== Extension Resource Types ==== |
Revision as of 23:37, 16 April 2012
--EthanDavis 13:32, 16 April 2012 (PDT)
Background
Providing OPeNDAP clients with information on the particular capabilities of a given server and given dataset has been discussed many times. Types of capabilities include supported DAP versions, supported server-side functions. Another possible capability would be support for multiple encodings of the various OPeNDAP services. Providing capabilities documents can also make it easier to plan for extensibility and the future evolution of OPeNDAP.
Negotiating versions using HTTP headers or URL keywords is described in DAP 4.0 Design doc. Advertising DAP protocol services is described in the DAP Service Terminus document.
Problem addressed
The proposal attempts to address the following requirements:
- Support for multiple versions of DAP protocol in a backwards compatible way
- Support for extensibility and evolution of protocol
- Support for multiple encoding formats (media types) for each resource type
- Support description of server and dataset capabilities (e.g., server-side processing capabilities)
Proposed solution
Provide dataset capabilities documents from the raw DAP dataset URL. A dataset's capabilities document includes links to the various OPeNDAP services for that dataset. Each link is described with a link relationship type and a media type. The link relationship type indicates what type of resource will be returned. The media type indicates the document type in which the returned resource will be encoded.
Providing a dataset capabilities document with links to both DAP2 and DAP4 resources allows for DAP2 backward compatibility and will support protocol extensibility and future evolution of the protocol.
Raw DAP Dataset URLs Return Capabilities Documents
http://server.org/some/path/data.nc
A GET request on a DAP dataset URL returns the capabilities document for the dataset. To take advantage of web caching, capabilities Document should try to be light weight (i.e., quick creation) and as stable as possible.
Link Relationship Type
http://opendap.org/rel/dap/dataset
The URL of a link with this relation type can be used to GET the dataset capabilities document for the dataset.
Possible Media Types
- application/vnd.opendap.org.capabilities+xml
- application/vnd.opendap.org.capabilities+json
- application/vnd.opendap.org.capabilities+pbuf
A capabilities resource must contain a server section and a dataset section.
The server section should include
- a link to the full server capabilities document (if applicable)
- a list of the DAP versions the server supports
- the implementation version (e.g., "TDS 4.3.57" or "Hyrax 1.7.45")
- a list of extensions the server supports
The dataset section should include
- a link to the full dataset capabilities document (this document)
- links for all resource types for each supported version
- a list of extensions the dataset supports
- a list of the types of constraint expressions supported for this dataset
- a list of the types of processing instructions supported for this dataset
Other Resource Types
Standard Resource Types
- DAP4 DDX
- DAP4 Data
- DAP4 Constraint Expression
- DAP4 Server Capabilities Document
- DAP2 DAS
- DAP2 DDS
- DAP2 DDX
- DAP2 Data
- DAP2 Constraint Expression
Extension Resource Types
Examples
See below.
Rationale for the solution
- Allows servers full control of their URL space
- DAP4 URLs are identified by their link type rather than a hard wired "file extension".
- On the other hand, file extensions can also be supported.
Discussion
DAP4 Resource Types
DAP4 DDX
DAP4 Data
DAP4 Constraint Expression
DAP4 Processing Instructions
DAP4 Server Capabilities Documents
DAP2 Resource Types
DAP2 DAS
DAP2 DDS
DAP2 DDX
DAP2 Data
DAP2 Constraint Expression
Example Capabilities Document
Some References
- http://stackoverflow.com/a/385216
- Response to the question: Use "Accept" header or extension to identify resource type?
- The ideal would be to implement both.