> Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 12:23:26 -0000
> From: "Oldroyd, Bill" <[log in to unmask]>
>
> I think a server may have the following reasons for including
> extraResponseData that are independent of what the client requests :
>
> To identify ownership of the data/response.
> To show where the response came from.
> To provide diagnostic information in the response, not necessarily for the
> purposes of the client.
> To provide additional data which will help process the response.
>
> The client can ignore data it does not require. Why should it
> "break" the processing in the client, unless the client is not
> conforming to the schema ?

Bill,

I know that Rob has already addressed these points, but it really
can't be said too many times.  SRW/U implementations simply may not do
this.  They're just not allowed.  It's not an implementation-level
decision, but a protocol-level one.

I am guessing that the issue here is that you are currently using one
specific client -- perhaps one that you built yourself -- to access
the new service.  Unilaterally making the changes that you propose
from correct SRW/U may well make perfect sense in the closed universe
of your client-and-server combination, but we really do need to
remember that the whole purpose of serving a standardised protocol
such as SRW/U is precisely that it allows interoperability with
_other_ clients -- including those we don't know about yet, and indeed
those that haven't been written yet.  Really, designing an SRW/U
server for a specific client makes no more sense that designing a Web
server for a specific browser.

I apologise if any of that came across as patronising.  That's really
not my intention.  But if we're going to be good standards-world
citizens, we really do need to get into a different mindset from when
we're designing self-contained applications.

(And the same principles apply with respect to the Adlib profile, by
the way, which Rob is doing such a thorough job on, and which the
Adlib people are coping with very graciously :-)

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