I've rewritten the syntax description (see
http://www.loc.gov/z3950/agency/zing/srw1-1/sru.html "URL Syntax") based
largely on Eliot's input (this and his other message).
Please review. In particular I don't know if I have the right special
characters.
Thanks Eliot.
--Ray
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eliot Christian" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2003 7:54 AM
Subject: Re: SRU examples
> At 09:47 AM 12/23/2003 -0500, Ray Denenberg wrote:
> >I don't have a preference on this issue, but the discussion leads me to
want
> >there to be a more formally defined syntax than what's at the current
draft
> >version of the 1.1 SRU definition,
> >http://www.loc.gov/z3950/agency/zing/srw1-1/sru.html, perhaps a bnf, or
at
> >least prose that specifies more rigorously what we mean by a base url,
and
> >what delimits it. Someone want to draft something?
>
> One can start by citing relevant Internet conventions. RFC 1738 (1994)
> defines four parts for URL's having an "http" scheme designator (host,
> port, path, and searchpart):
>
> An HTTP URL takes the form: http://<host>:<port>/<path>?<searchpart>
> where <host> and <port> are as described in Section 3.1. If :<port>
> is omitted, the port defaults to 80. No user name or password is
> allowed. <path> is an HTTP selector, and <searchpart> is a query
> string. The <path> is optional, as is the <searchpart> and its
> preceding "?". If neither <path> nor <searchpart> is present, the
> "/" may also be omitted. Within the <path> and <searchpart>
> components, "/", ";", "?" are reserved. The "/" character may be
> used within HTTP to designate a hierarchical structure.
>
> In RFC 1738 terms, an "SRU base-url" can be defined as the string
> formed by truncating an HTTP URL before the "?".
>
> The next thing to note is that an SRU query string is required to
> conform to the HTTP/CGI convention for expressing parameters. In
> CGI convention, parameters are delineated by an "&" and each parameter
> has the structure "key=value". SRU should enjoin servers to forgive
> a missing "&" in a query string, as is customary. SRU should also
> note that the order of parameters is not significant.
>
> Eliot
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