Eric Scheid wrote:
When updating an entry, is it acceptable to insert a value other than Now() into atom:updated?
Yes. Reasons below.
For example: Corporate Communications prep a release and they stamp it with a release date of Monday 4 PM ... but I don't see this release update until I get into the office at 2 PM Tuesday, and thus I quickly enter it into the CMS and set the atom:updated value to Monday 4 PM.
That's the kind of scenario that's begging for a business rule. I don't see anything in Atom that disallows those kind of policies.
1: the above scenario has run into the difference between document management, content management and publication. Atom doesn't distinguish between those.
2: an asshole reading of atom:updated says it should bind to the Atom Entry . A moron reading says it could bind to the thing the Entry is trying to describe (a press release, or news about a press release, or...). Atom isn't precise enough in it's denotation to say one way or another.
3: Literally, the spec doesn't say you must enter a Now() value. It also doesn't say whose Now() value you should enter.
I think policy you would apply would be primarily driven by what you think atom:updated points at, ie, the first point to close out above is 2. It does not help that Atom says little about Entry life cycles, for example, how Entries get onto servers in the first place, which is the issue your scenario has to deal with. Btw, I think the scenario describes a highly plausible state of affairs.
cheers Bill
