ASID Working Group Alexander Hopmann
INTERNET-DRAFT Microsoft Corporation
draft-hopmann-mimedirxml-00.txt
Expires SIX MONTHS FROM---> July 30th, 1997
Conversion of MIMEDIR content into XML
Status of this Memo
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Abstract
This document specifies how to translate information which is
represented in the MIMEDIR format into a representation of the
identical information using the XML syntax. Using this specification,
applications which have been designed to understand MIMEDIR formatted
data should be able to interoperate using XML representations of the
same schemas.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Operation
3. Schemas
4. Examples
5. Security Considerations
6. References
7. Author's Address
1. Introduction
This document specifies how to translate information which is
represented in the MIMEDIR [MIMEDIR] format into a representation of
the identical information using the XML [XML] syntax. Using this
specification, applications which have been designed to understand
MIMEDIR formatted data should be able to interoperate using XML
representations of the same schemas.
This specification covers the translation of MIMEDIR content into XML.
An XML document can not in the general case be converted into MIMEDIR
since XML allows more complicated structures to be represented.
2. Operation
The MIMEDIR format represents properties using a "type:value"
approach, with one property appearing on each line. Each of these
properties can be translated into the XML syntax by representing the
properties name as an element name, and the value as contents inside
that element:
MIMEDIR:
propertyname: value
XML:
value
The entire set of properties is enclosed inside a container so that
the result is a well formed XML document. By convention the name of
the outer element is the name of the MIMEDIR profile:
Alex Hopmann
Hopmann
alexhop@microsoft.com
MIMEDIR supports parameters on properties. These can be represented
in XML as sub-elements inside the main property:
MIMEDIR:
propertyname;paramname=paramvalue: value
XML:
paramvaluevalue
MIMEDIR also supports using the special BEGIN and END tokens to mark
the beginning and end of a grouping of values. This can easily be
represented in XML by grouping all of the items inside the BEGIN and
END block as sub-elements.
MIMEDIR:
propertyname: value
begin: foo
another: property
something: else
end: foo
XML:
value
property
else
If the MIMEDIR description starts with a BEGIN token, the value of
that token is used as the element name of the outermost element rather
than the profile name.
3. Schemas
MIMEDIR identifies properties as belonging to a given "profile". This
is a parallel mechanism to the schema mechanism being defined for XML
in the W3C RDF Working Group [XML-DATA]. An XML schema is uniquely
identified by a URL. Any MIMEDIR profile should be represented in
XML by the URL composed of the string "http://www.ietf.org/mimedir/"
followed by the name of the profile. For example, the profile
"person" is represented in XML by the schema
"http://www.ietf.org/mimedir/person".
4. Examples
Drawing examples from the MIMEDIR specification:
Content-Type: application/directory;
charset="iso-8859-1";
profile="person"
Content-ID:
Content-Transfer-Encoding: Quoted-Printable
source:
ldap://cn=3DBjorn%20Jensen,o=3DUniversity%20of%20Michigan,c=3DUS
name;proto=3Dldap: cn=3DBjorn Jensen, o=3DUniversity of Michigan,
c=3DUS
cn: Bj=F8rn Jensen
sn: Jensen
email: bjorn@umich.edu
phone: +1 313 747-4454
certificate;encoding=3Dbase64:
dGhpcyBjb3VsZCBiZSAKbXkgY2VydGlmaWNhdGUK
Content-Type: text/xml; charset="iso-8859-1"
ldap://cn=3DBjorn%20Jensen,o=3DUniversity%20of%20Michigan,c=3DUS
cn=3DBjorn Jensen, o=3DUniversity of Michigan, c=3DUS
3Dldap
Bj=F8rn Jensen
Jensen
bjorn@umich.edu
+1 313 747-4454
dGhpcyBjb3VsZCBiZSAKbXkgY2VydGlmaWNhdGUK
3Dbase64
BEGIN:vCard
FN:Frank Dawson
ORG:IBM Corporation;Network Software Division
ADR;TYPE=WORK,POSTAL,PARCEL:APNA/CC-303/Bldg. 002;
3039 Cornwallis Rd.;Research Triangle Park;
NC;27709;U.S.A.
TEL;TYPE=VOICE,MSG,WORK: +1 (919) 254-5861
TEL;TYPE=FAX,WORK: +1-919-543-6822
EMAIL;TYPE=INTERNET,PREF:fdawson@raleigh.ibm.com
EMAIL;TYPE=INTERNET:fdawson@earthlink.net
URL:http://home.earthlink.net/~fdawson
END:vCard
Frank Dawson
IBM Corporation;Network Software Division
WORK,POSTAL,PARCEL
APNA/CC-303/Bldg. 002;
3039 Cornwallis Rd.;Research Triangle Park;
NC;27709;U.S.A.
VOICE,MSG,WORK+1 (919) 254-5861
FAX,WORK+1-919-543-6822
INTERNET,PREF
fdawson@raleigh.ibm.com
INTERNETfdawson@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~fdawson
5. Security Considerations
This specification does not introduce any additional security
considerations beyond those created by the MIMEDIR and XML formats
themselves. The conversion of MIMEDIR contents into XML does
not loose any data. Care should be taken however since a digitally
signed MIMEDIR structure would no longer be signed once it has
been converted.
6. References
[MIME-DIR] Howes, T., Smith, M., "A MIME Content-Type for Directory
Information", Internet-draft-ietf-asid-mime-direct-05.txt, March,
1997.
[XML] Bray, T., Sperberg-McQueen, C. M.,
"Extensible Markup Language (XML)", WD-xml-961114, November 14, 1996.
[XML-DATA] Layman, A., Paoli, J., De Rose, S., Thompson, H.,
"Specification for XML-Data", June 26, 1997.
7. Author's Address
Alex Hopmann
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA, 98052 USA
alexhop@microsoft.com