| Independent Submission | K. Murchison |
| Internet-Draft | CMU |
| Updates: 7240 (if approved) | December 22, 2016 |
| Intended status: Standards Track | |
| Expires: June 25, 2017 |
Use of the Prefer Header Field in Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)
draft-murchison-webdav-prefer-12
This document defines an update to the HTTP Prefer header field [RFC7240] to specify how it can be used by a WebDAV client to request that certain behaviors be employed by a server while constructing a response to a request. This document defines the "depth-noroot" preference.
Please send comments to the Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) mailing list at <mailto:w3c-dist-auth@w3.org>, which may be joined by sending a message with subject "subscribe" to <mailto:w3c-dist-auth-request@w3.org>. This mailing list is archived at <http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-dist-auth/>.
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Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may 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 other than as "work in progress."
This Internet-Draft will expire on June 25, 2017.
Copyright (c) 2016 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License.
[RFC7240] defines the HTTP Prefer request header field and the "return=minimal" preference which indicates that a client wishes for the server to return a minimal response to a successful request, but states that what constitutes an appropriate minimal response is left solely to the discretion of the server. Section 2 of this specification defines precisely what is expected of a server when constructing minimal responses to successful WebDAV [RFC4918] requests.
[RFC7240] also defines the "return=representation" preference which indicates that a client wishes for the server to include an entity representing the current state of the resource in the response to a successful request. Section 3 of this specification makes recommendations on when this preference should be used by clients and extends its applicability to 412 (Precondition Failed) [RFC7232] responses.
Finally, Section 4 of this specification defines the "depth-noroot" preference that can be used with WebDAV methods that support the "Depth" header field.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
This document references XML element types in the "DAV:" [RFC4918], "urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:caldav" [RFC4791], and "urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:carddav" [RFC6352] namespaces outside of the context of an XML fragment. When doing so, the strings "DAV:", "CALDAV:", and "CARDDAV:" will be prepended to the XML element types respectively.
Some payload bodies in responses to WebDAV requests, such as 207 (Multi-Status) [RFC4918] responses, can be quite verbose or even unnecessary at times. This specification defines how the Prefer request header field, in conjunction with its "return=minimal" preference, can be used by clients to reduce the verbosity of such responses by requesting that the server omit those portions of the response that can be inferred by their absence.
When a PROPFIND [RFC4918] request, or a REPORT [RFC3253] request whose report type results in a 207 (Multi-Status) response, contains a Prefer header field with a preference of "return=minimal", the server SHOULD omit all DAV:propstat XML elements containing a DAV:status XML element of value 404 (Not Found) [RFC7231] from the 207 (Multi-Status) response. If the omission of such a DAV:propstat element would result in a DAV:response XML element containing zero DAV:propstat elements, the server MUST substitute one of the following in its place:
The following report types are candidates that could benefit from use of the "return=minimal" preference. NOTE: This list is not intended to be normative or exhaustive.
See Appendix B.1 and Appendix B.2 for examples.
When a PROPPATCH [RFC4918] request contains a Prefer header field with a preference of "return=minimal", and all instructions are processed successfully, the server SHOULD return one of the following responses rather than a 207 (Multi-Status) response:
See Appendix B.3 for examples.
Both the MKCALENDAR [RFC4791] and Extended MKCOL [RFC5689] specifications indicate that a server MAY return a message body in response to a successful request. This specification explicitly defines the intended behavior in the presence of the Prefer header field.
When a MKCALENDAR or an Extended MKCOL request contains a Prefer header field with a preference of "return=minimal", and the collection is created with all requested properties being set successfully, the server SHOULD return a 201 (Created) [RFC7231] response with an empty (zero-length) message body.
Note that the rationale for requiring that a minimal success response have an empty body is twofold:
See Appendix B.4 for examples.
[RFC7240] describes the "return=representation" preference as being intended to provide a means of optimizing communication between the client and server by eliminating the need for a subsequent GET request to retrieve the current representation of the resource following a modification. This preference is equally applicable to situations where the server itself modifies a resource, and where a resource has been modified by another client.
The state-changing methods PUT [RFC7231], COPY/MOVE [RFC4918], PATCH [RFC5789], and POST [RFC5995] can be used to create or update a resource. In some instances, such as with CalDAV Scheduling [RFC6638], the created or updated resource representation may differ from the representation sent in the body of the request or referenced by the effective request URI. In cases where the client, upon receiving a 2xx (Successful) [RFC7231] response to its state-changing request, would normally issue a subsequent GET request to retrieve the current representation of the resource, the client can instead include a Prefer header field with the "return=representation" preference in the state-changing request.
When a state-changing request contains a Prefer header field with a preference of "return=representation", and the resource is created or updated successfully, the server SHOULD include an entity representing the current state resource in the resulting 201 (Created) or 200 (OK) [RFC7231] response. In addition to coalescing the create/update and retrieve operations into a single round-trip, by returning the current representation of the resource in the response the client will know that any changes to the resource were produced by the server rather than a concurrent client, thus providing a level of atomicity to the operation.
See Appendix B.5 for examples.
Frequently, clients using a state-changing method such as those listed above will make them conditional by including either an If-Match or If-None-Match [RFC7232] header field in the request. This is done to prevent the client from accidentally overwriting a resource whose current state has been modified by another client acting in parallel. In cases where the client, upon receiving a 412 (Precondition Failed) [RFC7232] response to its conditional state-changing request, would normally issue a subsequent GET request to retrieve the current representation of the resource, the client can instead include a Prefer header field with the "return=representation" preference in the conditional state-changing request.
When a conditional state-changing request contains a Prefer header field with a preference of "return=representation", and the specified condition evaluates to false, the server SHOULD include an entity representing the current state of the resource in the resulting 412 (Precondition Failed) [RFC7232] response.
See Appendix B.6 for examples.
The "depth-noroot" preference indicates that the client wishes for the server to exclude the target (root) resource from processing by the WebDAV method and only apply the WebDAV method to the target resource's subordinate resources.
depth-noroot = "depth-noroot"
This preference is only intended to be used with WebDAV methods whose definitions explicitly provide support for the Depth [RFC4918] header field. Furthermore, this preference only applies when the Depth header field has a value of "1" or "infinity" (either implicitly or explicitly).
The "depth-noroot" preference MAY be used in conjunction with the "return=minimal" preference in a single request.
See Appendix B.1 for examples.
< RFC Editor: before publication please remove this section, the reference to [RFC7942], and any "URIs" section >
This section records the status of known implementations of the protocol defined by this specification at the time of posting of this Internet-Draft, and is based on a proposal described in [RFC7942]. The description of implementations in this section is intended to assist the IETF in its decision processes in progressing drafts to RFCs. Please note that the listing of any individual implementation here does not imply endorsement by the IETF. Furthermore, no effort has been spent to verify the information presented here that was supplied by IETF contributors. This is not intended as, and must not be construed to be, a catalog of available implementations or their features. Readers are advised to note that other implementations may exist.
According to [RFC7942], "this will allow reviewers and working groups to assign due consideration to documents that have the benefit of running code, which may serve as evidence of valuable experimentation and feedback that have made the implemented protocols more mature. It is up to the individual working groups to use this information as they see fit".
The open source Cyrus project is a highly scalable enterprise mail system which also supports calendaring and contacts. This production level CalDAV/CardDAV implementation supports all of the preferences described in this document and successfully interoperates with the CalDAVTester, Apple Calendar and Apple Contacts, and aCal client implementations described below. This implementation is freely distributable under a BSD style license from Computing Services at Carnegie Mellon University.
The open source Calendar and Contacts Server project is a standards-compliant server implementing the CalDAV and CardDAV protocols. This production level implementation supports all of the preferences described in this document and successfully interoperates with the CalDAVTester and Apple Calendar and Apple Contacts client implementations described below. This implementation is freely distributable under the terms of the Apache License, Version 2.0.
Bedework is an open-source enterprise calendar system that supports public, personal, and group calendaring. This production level implementation supports the "return=minimal" preference described in this document and successfully interoperates with the CalDAVTester client implementation described below. This implementation is freely distributable under the Jasig Licensing Policy.
DAViCal is a server for calendar sharing using the CalDAV protocol. This production level implementation supports the "return=minimal" preference described in this document and successfully interoperates with the CalDAVTester client implementation described below. This implementation is Free Software distributable under the General Public License.
The widely used Apple Calendar and Apple Contacts clients are standards-compliant clients implementing the CalDAV and CardDAV protocols respectively. These production level implementations support the "return=minimal" preference described in this document and successfully interoperate with the Cyrus and Calendar and Contacts Server implementations described above. These client implementations are proprietary and are distributed as part of Apple's desktop operating systems.
aCal is an open source calendar client for Android which uses the CalDAV standard for communication. This implementation makes some use of each of the preferences described in this document and successfully interoperates with the Cyrus server implementation described above. This implementation is freely distributable under the General Public License.
CalDAVTester is an open source test and performance application designed to work with CalDAV and/or CardDAV servers and tests various aspects of their protocol handling as well as performance. This widely used implementation supports all of the preferences described in this document and successfully interoperates with the server implementations described above. This implementation is freely distributable under the terms of the Apache License, Version 2.0.
No new security considerations are introduced by use of the Prefer header field with WebDAV request methods, beyond those discussed in [RFC7240] and those already inherent in those methods.
The following preference is to be added to the HTTP Preferences Registry defined in Section 5.1 of [RFC7240].
The following methods are to have their references updated in the HTTP Method Registry defined in Section 8.1 of [RFC7231].
| Method Name | References |
|---|---|
| MKCALENDAR | RFC4791, Section 5.3.1; RFCXXXX, Section 2.3 |
| MKCOL | RFC4918, Section 9.3; RFC 5689, Section 3; RFCXXXX, Section 2.3 |
| PROPFIND | RFC4918, Section 9.1; RFCXXXX, Section 2.1 |
| PROPPATCH | RFC4918, Section 9.2; RFCXXXX, Section 2.2 |
| REPORT | RFC3253, Section 3.6; RFCXXXX, Section 2.1 |
The following status code is to have its references updated in the HTTP Status Code Registry defined in Section 8.2 of [RFC7231].
| Value | References |
|---|---|
| 412 | RFC7232, Section 4.2; RFCXXXX, Section 3.2 |
The author would like to thank the following individuals for contributing their ideas and support for writing this specification: Cyrus Daboo, Helge Hess, Andrew McMillan, Arnaud Quillaud, and Julian Reschke.
The author would also like to thank the Calendaring and Scheduling Consortium for advice with this specification, and for organizing interoperability testing events to help refine it.
This document is based heavily on the Brief [MSDN.aa563501] and extended Depth [MSDN.aa563950] request header fields. The behaviors described in Section 2.1 and Section 2.2 are identical to those provided by the Brief header field when used with the PROPFIND [MSDN.aa580336] and PROPPATCH [MSDN.aa493854] methods respectively. The behavior described in Section 4 is identical to that provided by the "1,noroot" [MSDN.aa563950] and "infinity,noroot" [MSDN.aa563950] Depth header field values.
Client and server implementations that already support the Brief header field can add support for the "return=minimal" preference with nominal effort.
If a server supporting the Prefer header field receives both the Brief and Prefer header fields in a request, clients can expect the server to ignore the Brief header field and only use the Prefer header field preferences.
This example tries to fetch one known and one unknown property from child resources.
>> Request <<
PROPFIND /container/ HTTP/1.1
Host: webdav.example.com
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: xxxx
Depth: 1
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<D:propfind xmlns:D="DAV:" xmlns:X="http://ns.example.com/foobar/">
<D:prop>
<D:resourcetype/>
<X:foobar/>
</D:prop>
</D:propfind>
>> Response <<
HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: xxxx
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<D:multistatus xmlns:D="DAV:" xmlns:X="http://ns.example.com/foobar/">
<D:response>
<D:href>/container/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:resourcetype>
<D:collection/>
</D:resourcetype>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<X:foobar/>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
<D:response>
<D:href>/container/work/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:resourcetype>
<D:collection/>
</D:resourcetype>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<X:foobar/>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
<D:response>
<D:href>/container/home/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:resourcetype>
<D:collection/>
</D:resourcetype>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<X:foobar/>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
<D:response>
<D:href>/container/foo.txt</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:resourcetype/>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<X:foobar/>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
</D:multistatus>
This example tries to fetch one known and one unknown property from child resources only.
>> Request <<
PROPFIND /container/ HTTP/1.1
Host: webdav.example.com
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: xxxx
Depth: 1
Prefer: return=minimal, depth-noroot
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<D:propfind xmlns:D="DAV:" xmlns:X="http://ns.example.com/foobar/">
<D:prop>
<D:resourcetype/>
<X:foobar/>
</D:prop>
</D:propfind>
>> Response <<
HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: xxxx
Preference-Applied: return=minimal, depth-noroot
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<D:multistatus xmlns:D="DAV:">
<D:response>
<D:href>/container/work/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:resourcetype>
<D:collection/>
</D:resourcetype>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
<D:response>
<D:href>/container/home/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:resourcetype>
<D:collection/>
</D:resourcetype>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
<D:response>
<D:href>/container/foo.txt</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:resourcetype/>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
</D:multistatus>
This example tries to fetch an unknown property from a collection.
>> Request <<
PROPFIND /container/ HTTP/1.1
Host: webdav.example.com
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: xxxx
Prefer: return=minimal
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<D:propfind xmlns:D="DAV:" xmlns:X="http://ns.example.com/foobar/">
<D:prop>
<X:foobar/>
</D:prop>
</D:propfind>
>> Response <<
HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: xxxx
Preference-Applied: return=minimal
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<D:multistatus xmlns:D="DAV:">
<D:response>
<D:href>/container/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop/>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
</D:multistatus>
This example tries to fetch an unknown property from several resources via the DAV:expand-property [RFC3253] REPORT type.
>> Request <<
REPORT /dav/principals/ HTTP/1.1
Host: webdav.example.com
Content-type: text/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-length: xxxx
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<D:expand-property xmlns:D="DAV:">
<D:property name="current-user-principal">
<D:property name="resourcetype"/>
<D:property name="displayname"/>
<D:property name="foobar"
namespace="http://ns.example.com/foobar"/>
<D:property name="calendar-home-set"
namespace="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:caldav">
<D:property name="resourcetype"/>
<D:property name="foobar"
namespace="http://ns.example.com/foobar"/>
</D:property>
<D:property name="addressbook-home-set"
namespace="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:carddav">
<D:property name="resourcetype"/>
<D:property name="foobar"
namespace="http://ns.example.com/foobar"/>
</D:property>
</D:property>
</D:expand-property>
>> Response <<
HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: xxxx
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<D:multistatus xmlns:D="DAV:"
xmlns:C="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:caldav"
xmlns:R="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:carddav"
xmlns:X="http://ns.example.com/foobar">
<D:response>
<D:href>/dav/principals/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:current-user-principal>
<D:response>
<D:href>/dav/principals/user/ken/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:resourcetype>
<D:principal/>
</D:resourcetype>
<D:displayname>ken</D:displayname>
<C:calendar-home-set>
<D:response>
<D:href>/dav/calendars/user/ken/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:resourcetype>
<D:collection/>
</D:resourcetype>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<X:foobar/>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
</C:calendar-home-set>
<R:addressbook-home-set>
<D:response>
<D:href>/dav/addressbooks/user/ken/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:resourcetype>
<D:collection/>
</D:resourcetype>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<X:foobar/>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
</R:addressbook-home-set>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<X:foobar/>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
</D:current-user-principal>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
</D:multistatus>
This example tries to fetch an unknown property from several resources via the DAV:expand-property [RFC3253] REPORT type.
>> Request <<
REPORT /dav/principals/ HTTP/1.1
Host: webdav.example.com
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: xxxx
Prefer: return=minimal
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<D:expand-property xmlns:D="DAV:">
<D:property name="current-user-principal">
<D:property name="resourcetype"/>
<D:property name="displayname"/>
<D:property name="foobar"
namespace="http://ns.example.com/foobar"/>
<D:property name="calendar-home-set"
namespace="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:caldav">
<D:property name="resourcetype"/>
<D:property name="foobar"
namespace="http://ns.example.com/foobar"/>
</D:property>
<D:property name="addressbook-home-set"
namespace="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:carddav">
<D:property name="resourcetype"/>
<D:property name="foobar"
namespace="http://ns.example.com/foobar"/>
</D:property>
</D:property>
</D:expand-property>
>> Response <<
HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: xxxx
Preference-Applied: return=minimal
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<D:multistatus xmlns:D="DAV:"
xmlns:C="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:caldav"
xmlns:R="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:carddav"
xmlns:X="http://ns.example.com/foobar">
<D:response>
<D:href>/dav/principals/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:current-user-principal>
<D:response>
<D:href>/dav/principals/user/ken/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:resourcetype>
<D:principal/>
</D:resourcetype>
<D:displayname>ken</D:displayname>
<C:calendar-home-set>
<D:response>
<D:href>/dav/calendars/user/ken/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:resourcetype>
<D:collection/>
</D:resourcetype>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
</C:calendar-home-set>
<R:addressbook-home-set>
<D:response>
<D:href>/dav/addressbooks/user/ken/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:resourcetype>
<D:collection/>
</D:resourcetype>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
</R:addressbook-home-set>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
</D:current-user-principal>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
</D:multistatus>
>> Request <<
PROPPATCH /container/ HTTP/1.1
Host: webdav.example.com
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: xxxx
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<D:propertyupdate xmlns:D="DAV:">
<D:set>
<D:prop>
<D:displayname>My Container</D:displayname>
</D:prop>
</D:set>
</D:propertyupdate>
>> Response <<
HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: xxxx
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<D:multistatus xmlns:D="DAV:">
<D:response>
<D:href>/container/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:displayname/>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
</D:multistatus>
>> Request <<
PROPPATCH /container/ HTTP/1.1
Host: webdav.example.com
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: xxxx
Prefer: return=minimal
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<D:propertyupdate xmlns:D="DAV:">
<D:set>
<D:prop>
<D:displayname>My Container</D:displayname>
</D:prop>
</D:set>
</D:propertyupdate>
>> Response <<
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Length: 0 Preference-Applied: return=minimal
>> Request <<
MKCOL /container/ HTTP/1.1
Host: webdav.example.com
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: xxxx
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<D:mkcol xmlns:D="DAV:">
<D:set>
<D:prop>
<D:displayname>My Container</D:displayname>
</D:prop>
</D:set>
</D:mkcol>
>> Response <<
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: xxxx
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<D:mkcol-response xmlns:D="DAV:">
<D:propstat>
<D:prop>
<D:displayname/>
</D:prop>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:mkcol-response>
>> Request <<
MKCOL /container/ HTTP/1.1
Host: webdav.example.com
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: xxxx
Prefer: return=minimal
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<D:mkcol xmlns:D="DAV:">
<D:set>
<D:prop>
<D:displayname>My Container</D:displayname>
</D:prop>
</D:set>
</D:mkcol>
>> Response <<
HTTP/1.1 201 Created Cache-Control: no-cache Content-Length: 0 Preference-Applied: return=minimal
Note that this request is not conditional because by using the POST [RFC5995] method the client lets the server choose the resource URI, thereby guaranteeing that it will not modify an existing resource.
>> Request <<
POST /container/work;add-member/ HTTP/1.1 Host: caldav.example.com Content-Type: text/calendar; charset=utf-8 Content-Length: xxxx BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Example Corp.//CalDAV Client//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:CD87465FA SEQUENCE:0 DTSTAMP:20120602T185254Z DTSTART:20120602T160000Z DTEND:20120602T170000Z TRANSP:OPAQUE SUMMARY:Lunch ORGANIZER;CN="Ken Murchison":mailto:murch@example.com ATTENDEE;CN="Ken Murchison";CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;PARTSTAT=ACCEPTED: mailto:murch@example.com ATTENDEE;CN="John Doe";CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;PARTSTAT =NEEDS-ACTION;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;RSVP=TRUE:mailto:jdoe@ example.com END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR
>> Response <<
HTTP/1.1 201 Created Location: /container/work/abc.ics Content-Length: 0
Note that the server did not include any validator header fields (e.g ETag) in the response, signaling that the created representation differs from the representation sent in the body of the request. The client has to send a separate GET request to retrieve the current representation:
>> Request <<
GET /container/work/abc.ics HTTP/1.1 Host: caldav.example.com
>> Response <<
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: text/calendar; charset=utf-8 Content-Length: xxxx ETag: "nahduyejc" Schedule-Tag: "jfd84hgbcn" BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Example Corp.//CalDAV Server//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:CD87465FA SEQUENCE:0 DTSTAMP:20120602T185300Z DTSTART:20120602T160000Z DTEND:20120602T170000Z TRANSP:OPAQUE SUMMARY:Lunch ORGANIZER;CN="Ken Murchison":mailto:murch@example.com ATTENDEE;CN="Ken Murchison";CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;PARTSTAT=ACCEPTED: mailto:murch@example.com ATTENDEE;CN="John Doe";CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;PARTSTAT =NEEDS-ACTION;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;RSVP=TRUE;SCHEDULE-STATUS= 1.2:mailto:jdoe@example.com END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR
Note that this request is not conditional because by using the POST [RFC5995] method the client lets the server choose the resource URI, thereby guaranteeing that it will not modify an existing resource.
>> Request <<
POST /container/work;add-member/ HTTP/1.1 Host: caldav.example.com Content-Type: text/calendar; charset=utf-8 Content-Length: xxxx Prefer: return=representation BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Example Corp.//CalDAV Client//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:CD87465FA SEQUENCE:0 DTSTAMP:20120602T185254Z DTSTART:20120602T160000Z DTEND:20120602T170000Z TRANSP:OPAQUE SUMMARY:Lunch ORGANIZER;CN="Ken Murchison":mailto:murch@example.com ATTENDEE;CN="Ken Murchison";CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;PARTSTAT=ACCEPTED: mailto:murch@example.com ATTENDEE;CN="John Doe";CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;PARTSTAT =NEEDS-ACTION;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;RSVP=TRUE:mailto:jdoe@ example.com END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR
>> Response <<
HTTP/1.1 201 Created Location: /container/work/abc.ics Content-Type: text/calendar; charset=utf-8 Content-Length: xxxx Content-Location: /container/work/abc.ics ETag: "nahduyejc" Schedule-Tag: "jfd84hgbcn" Preference-Applied: return=representation BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Example Corp.//CalDAV Server//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:CD87465FA SEQUENCE:0 DTSTAMP:20120602T185300Z DTSTART:20120602T160000Z DTEND:20120602T170000Z TRANSP:OPAQUE SUMMARY:Lunch ORGANIZER;CN="Ken Murchison":mailto:murch@example.com ATTENDEE;CN="Ken Murchison";CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;PARTSTAT=ACCEPTED: mailto:murch@example.com ATTENDEE;CN="John Doe";CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;PARTSTAT =NEEDS-ACTION;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;RSVP=TRUE;SCHEDULE-STATUS= 1.2:mailto:jdoe@example.com END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR
>> Request <<
PUT /container/motd.txt HTTP/1.1 Host: dav.example.com Content-Type: text/plain Content-Length: xxxx If-Match: "asd973" Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
>> Response <<
HTTP/1.1 412 Precondition Failed Content-Length: 0
The resource has been modified by another user agent (ETag mismatch), therefore the client has to send a separate GET request to retrieve the current representation:
>> Request <<
GET /container/motd.txt HTTP/1.1 Host: dav.example.com
>> Response <<
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: text/plain Content-Length: xxxx ETag: "789sdas" An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.
>> Request <<
PUT /container/motd.txt HTTP/1.1 Host: dav.example.com Content-Type: text/plain Content-Length: xxxx If-Match: "asd973" Prefer: return=representation Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
>> Response <<
HTTP/1.1 412 Precondition Failed Content-Type: text/plain Content-Length: xxxx Content-Location: /container/motd.txt ETag: "789sdas" Preference-Applied: return=representation An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.
< RFC Editor: before publication please remove this section >
from:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<D:multistatus xmlns:D="DAV:">
<D:response>
<D:href>/container/</D:href>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:response>
</D:multistatus>
to the slightly more verbose:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<D:multistatus xmlns:D="DAV:">
<D:response>
<D:href>/container/</D:href>
<D:propstat>
<D:prop/>
<D:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</D:status>
</D:propstat>
</D:response>
</D:multistatus>