Chuck,
The Javadocs do have the info about the HTTP headers, in addition you can
check this FAQ entry:
http://www.restlet.org/faq#05
>From an HTTP protocol point of view, headers are indeed first class
citizens. Our HTTP connectors actually use an HTTP specific API with direct
access to headers. At the Restlet API level, our focus is not the HTTP
protocol, but the Web application developer needs. We don't want people to
manually deal with HTTP headers, their formatting or parsing. Instead we
provide an object-oriented API that provides a full mapping of information
available in HTTP without requiring developer to know how to parse/format,
etc. Also, HTTP as both communication aspects (pipeline, persistent
connection, chunk encoding, etc.) and "pure" application aspects like the
request URI, method, body and a subset of headers. By exposing only the
"pure" HTTP application aspect into the Restlet API, we shield the
application developer from manipulating/interfering with the communication
aspects (we let the HTTP connectors deal with that).
As for the protocol independence. To be more precise, the Restlet API is a
direct and complete abstraction of the HTTP protocol ("pure" application
aspects) that can also be use to work with other "compatible" protocols like
FILE, SMTP, FTP, JDBC, etc. If the protocol doesn't support a feature of
HTTP (like redirection), then the connector will simply ignore it. Protocol
independence doesn't mean that the application developer can or should
ignore the actual protocol used. Just that he can use the same API to work
with several protocols, nothing more.
I hope this clarifies. In any case, your feed-back is important so don't
worry about complaining too loudly as long as the discussion stays
constructive. There is always an opportunity to influence changes in version
1.1, 2.0, etc.
Best regards,
Jerome
> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : Chuck Hinson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Envoyé : lundi 12 février 2007 15:27
> À : [email protected]
> Objet : RE: RE: Re: Response Headers
>
> I don't know what the 1.0.0 snapshot javadocs have in them so
> ignore this if it's already addressed, but
> message.getAttributes() make no mentions of being able to
> retrieve http headers nor what one uses for the key name (I'm
> guessing the header name, but it'd be nice if the docs say so).
>
> It'd also be nice if the methods that wrap access to the
> headers were more explicit about what headers they manipulate.
>
> I'm also a little puzzled at the idea of considering headers
> as lower-level artifacts; it seems to me that, http being an
> application protocol, the headers are first-class citizens.
> When I'm attempting to implement a spec that's based on http
> and it says that such-and-such a header must be set, then
> that's an important thing for me to be able to do.
>
> I'd also argue that it's a waste of time to try to make
> Restlets protocol agnostic. While REST certainly doesnt
> specify an application protocol, at this point there is only
> one and http is it. Google around for leaky abstractions and
> protocol independence. You'll find that true
> protocol-independence is rarely acheived and almost always
> costs more than its worth in additional complexity. (For
> example, how would you support an underlying protocol that
> doesn't have the concept of redirection - all those redirect
> methods become pretty useless.)
>
> But hey - you guys are the ones doing the work, so I'm not
> going to complain too loudly.
>
> --Chuck
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jerome Louvel [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 4:38 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: RE: Re: Response Headers
>
>
> Hi Chuck,
>
> All standard HTTP headers have an equivalent class/property
> in the Restlet API. It was a deliberate choice to not expose
> those headers as first-class citizens, because we consider
> them as lower-level artifacts and because we want to support
> multiple protocols via the same API.
>
> However, you do have access to those raw headers via the
> request.attributes property. You can also add non standard
> HTTP headers if required. See the Javadocs for details:
> http://www.restlet.org/docs/api/org/restlet/data/Message.html#
> getAttributes(
> )
>
> Best regards,
> Jerome
>
> > -----Message d'origine-----
> > De : Chuck Hinson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Envoyé :
> lundi 12
> > février 2007 06:36 À : [email protected] Objet : RE: Re:
> > Response Headers
> >
> > Umm. OK, thanks. Not was I was expecting, but I'll take it.
> >
> > However, the more generic question is then how do I set an
> arbitrary
> > HTTP header (entity or response) on a response?
> >
> > --Chuck
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Vincent
> > Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 8:51 PM
> > To: [email protected]
> > Subject: Re: Response Headers
> >
> >
> >
> > > Maybe I'm blind, but I don't see how to set a header in a
> response.
> > >
> > > I need to set the Location header on a response to a POST,
> > but I can't
> >
> > > seem to find the right place to do that. What am I missing?
> >
> >
> > response.setStatus(Status.SUCCESS_CREATED);
> > response.setRedirectRef(request.getRootRef() + <uri>);
> >
> > -Vincent.
