Proposed resolution - re: InitialValues for properties in WS-RMD

On the TC call on 4/3/06, I proposed
that we (re-)add the concept of initial values to the WS-RMD spec. This
issue does not have a number yet. Below is a description of the issue and
the proposed resolution.

When programming against the RMD spec,
it is often necessary to seed a property with a set of initial values that
are known at design time. A better term might be "default" values.
The difference between these initial values and the concept of static values
already in the spec is that initial values should be mutable, while static
values are not.

The definition of initial values in
an RMD document would be just like that of static values. For example,
a property named MyProperty of type integer might have the following definition:

<wsrmd:Property path="myns:MyProperty"
... >

   <wsrmd:InitialValues>

      <myns:MyProperty>123</myns:MyProperty>

      <myns:MyProperty>456</myns:MyProperty>

   </wsrmd:InitialValues>

</wsrmd:Property>

If the property is mutable, these initial
values may be deleted or updated over the resource's lifetime. Again, this
is different from static values because even on mutable properties, static
instances are never deleted or updated.

The proposed resolution is to add the
initial values concept to RMD by copying the section on static values (8.4),
doing a search-and-replace (StaticValues -> InitialValues), and modifying
the two introductory sentences to describe the role of initial values.
The schema and infoset figures (in section 8 and appendices) will also
need to be updated to reflect this option.

Dan Jemiolo

IBM Corporation

Research Triangle Park, NC

+++ I'm an engineer. I make slides that people can't read. Sometimes I
eat donuts. +++