Re: missing(?) header element

[Henry Lowe <hlowe@omg.org>]

Chris,

This sounds reasonable especially if other groups have 
found it necessary to include this sort of feature.  Does 
anyone know if RosettaNet, etc. use it extensively?
Also, if we want RosettaNet to use our transport rather 
than their own, it would seem to be a good feature to 
have.  Overhead is not high.

I'd go with your alternate with an OPTIONAL attribute and 
default, i.e., 

  <!ATTLIST ebXMLHeader Mode (test | production) "production">

as it keeps overhead down and doesn't get in the way unless 
you really want "test".

Best regards,
Henry
------------------------------------
At 04:45 PM 11/15/2000 -0500, Christopher Ferris wrote:
>All,
>
>This has been discussed previously, but now is the time
>to revisit the issue of missing header elements starting
>with the following proposal. 
>
>This issue should be added to the comments list for v0.8.
>
>I would propose that we add a new element to be used
>to indicate whether the message is a test or live/production
>message. Both RosettaNet and OTA have something similar
>in purpose, although each calls it something different.
>I imagine that other vocabularies have something similar
>as well.
>
>The purpose of this element (or attribute as the case may
>be) is to enable parties to exchange messages prior to
>actually engaging in e-business, to ensure that their
>systems are prepared to correctly handle the messages
>they send eachother.
>
>I would propose that we add the following element as a
>sub-element of Header:
>
>       <!ELEMENT Usage EMPTY>
>
>       <!ATTLIST Usage  Mode  (test | production )  #REQUIRED >
>
>e.g.
>       <Usage Mode="test"/>
>
>I would propose that this Usage element be OPTIONAL in cardinality
>within in instance document. It would be REQUIRED for a receiving
>MSH treat the message as <Usage Mode="production"/> in the absence
>of a Usage element within an instance document.
>
>An alternate approach would be to add an OPTIONAL attribute
>to the ebXMLHeader element:
>
>       <!ATTLIST ebXMLHeader Mode (test | production) #IMPLIED>
>
>or, specifying a default value:
>
>       <!ATTLIST ebXMLHeader Mode (test | production) "production">
>
>e.g.
>       <ebXMLHeader xmlns="..." 
>               MessageType="Normal" 
>               Version="1.0" 
>               Mode="test">
>       ...
>       </ebXMLHeader>
>
>As with the case of the Usage element above, if the attribute
>is absent in an instance of an ebXMLHeader instance document,
>a receiving MSH SHALL treat the message as if it had an attribute
>of Mode="production". 
>
>I could also live with:
>
>       <!ELEMENT Usage EMPTY>
>
>       <!ATTLIST Usage  Mode  (test | live)  #REQUIRED >
>
>or, specifying a default value...
>
>       <!ATTLIST ebXMLHeader Mode (test | live) "live">
>
>It would be likely that we would need to specify explicitly
>that a message sent in response to a message sent with Mode="test"
>MUST itself have a Mode="test" and vice versa.
>
>Comments?
>
>Cheers,
>
>Chris
>