HTTP/1.1 200 OK Date: Tue, 09 Apr 2002 11:02:55 GMT Server: Apache/1.3.20 (Unix) Last-Modified: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 18:48:00 GMT ETag: "361f2b-f8b-34733460" Accept-Ranges: bytes Content-Length: 3979 Connection: close Content-Type: text/plain S. Reddy INTERNET-DRAFT Microsoft Corporation draft-reddy-dasl-requirements-00.txt November 19, 1997 Expires May 24, 1998 Requirements for DAV Searching and Locating Status of this Memo This document is an Internet draft. Internet drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working information as Internet drafts. Internet Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and can be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet drafts as reference material or to cite them as other than as "work in progress". To learn the current status of any Internet draft please check the "lid-abstracts.txt" listing contained in the Internet drafts shadow directories on ftp.is.co.za (Africa), nic.nordu.net (Europe), munnari.oz.au (Pacific Rim), ds.internic.net (US East coast) or ftp.isi.edu (US West coast). Further information about the IETF can be found at URL: http://www.ietf.org/ Distribution of this document is unlimited. Editorial comments should be sent to the author (saveenr@microsoft.com). Abstract The Distributed Authoring and Versioning protocol [WEBDAV] defines simple mechanisms to assign and retrieve values for properties. This document presents a list of features in the form of requirements for a DAV Searching and Locating (DASL) protocol, an extension that improves the efficiency and utility of searching operations for resources whose properties or content meet client- defined criteria. INTERNET DRAFT Requirements for DAV Searching and Locating 1 Requirements for DAV Searching and Locating November 1997 1 Introduction The DAV methods INDEX, PROPFIND, and the HTTP 1.1 method GET are sufficient to allow a client to locate those resources that meet a set of conditions on their properties or content. However, these methods are inefficient for some simple, common search scenarios. For example, in a typical publishing environment a client may wish to find "all the text documents modified within the last week." DAV clients must repeatedly invoke the INDEX and PROPFIND methods to traverse the server namespace, retrieve property values, and then determine which resources meet the criteria. This procedure is a functional solution. However, it has several limitations. First, this procedure makes inefficient use of network resources. The client must repeatedly invoke the INDEX method to recurse the server namespace. Likewise, repeated calls to PROPFIND are required for all of the resources that are being examined, resulting in the transmission of data even for resources that will fail to meet the criteria. Second, it makes inefficient use of server intelligence. Servers capable of supporting a criteria-based search for resources can use well-defined mechanisms to expedite the generation of the results. These techniques include caching of intermediate search results and the use of indices. If the logic is left solely to the client, neither client nor server can take advantage of these features. Third, this simple DAV search procedure cannot efficiently search the content of resources. To search content would require a DAV client to retrieve the entire content of each resource that is to be examined. These limitations are severe enough for even simple search scenarios that DAV needs extensions to specifically address them. INTERNET DRAFT Requirements for DAV Searching and Locating 2