Subject: Should AtomPub allow app:categories in workspace?

From: Ian Mayo <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:37:22 +0100

Hi all,
there seems to be a mismatch between the Atom Syndication Format and
the Atom Publication Protocol.

Maybe there are lots, but I've stumbled across this one.

ASF (4.2.2) says:
The "atom:category" element conveys information about a category
associated with an entry or feed.

Categories the are available for an entry are specified in a
categories element in the parent collection/feed.  Thus, if a category
is available for association with a feed, it's categories descriptor
should be specified in the parent element, a workspace in this case.

But, APP (8.3.6) says:
The "app:categories" element provides a list of the categories that
can be applied to the members of a Collection.

I'd appreciate clarification on whether I'm interpreting the documents
correctly,

cheers,
Ian

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From: "Sylvain Hellegouarch" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:55:03 +0200 (CEST)

> I'd appreciate clarification on whether I'm interpreting the documents

I believe atom:category elements at the feed level are simply undefined
from the AtomPub spec. Meaning they don't relate to anything from the
service document.

- Sylvain

-- 
Sylvain Hellegouarch
http://www.defuze.org

---

From: Eric Scheid <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:25:24 +1000

> I'd appreciate clarification on whether I'm interpreting the documents

The Atom Publication Protocol assumes the existence of a feed/collection as
is, and provides no means of interacting with the collection object as an
object in it's own right.

It's only concerned with adding/editing/deleting *members* of the
collections. The fact that the feed, as published and syndicated via ASF,
could also have categories is besides the point.

You can put things into the bucket, you can take things out of the bucket,
but whether the bucket is plastic or steel, or whether it has little duckies
painted on the side ... these are besides the point.

(That said, some are facilitating creation/editing/etc of feed/collection
objects by treating them as _members_ of a larger or meta collection, in
which case the feed level atom:category element is simply data in the
payload. A perfectly reasonable approach, btw.)

(Also, it has been a while so my recollection may be fuzzed)

e.