Idas Architectural Todo

This list represents items needed to be done which are architectural in nature, or have to do with the IdAS API/SPI interfaces.

• Support for "building block" context providers (e.g. that do certain kinds of attribute transformation).
  • Each building block context will expect to be told the rest of the chain of contextRefs.
  • Perhaps a Factory takes a list of ContextRefs instead of a sole ContextRefs
  • When the consumer of IdAS finally gets the Context instance, that instance might be the head of a chain of Context instances. Perhaps the registry only sees the top one.
• Metadata:
  • Metadata access: Allow subsets of metadata to be fetched. (IHasMetadata.java)
  • Does IHasMetadata.createMetadata also effectively call addMetadata?
• Schema: Add method(s) which return the schema as a stream, DOM document, or other iterable object. (IContext.java)
• Digital Subjects
  • Interrogation
    • Attribute Restriction List: Some methods need to be able to allow the user to specify which attributes to be returned when accessing Digital Subjects. This will aid in performance and scalability. (IContext.java)
      • We may need the same for metadata.
    • Filter
      • Format: Define the filter format for getSubjects. (IContext.java)
      • Allow filters In other methods: (removeSubject, etc.) (IContext.java)
    • verifySubjectAttributes doesn't leave a way to verify that a DS representing a group contains a specific member in its member value. (IContext.java)
    • Should getSubject(cuid) throw an exception if cuid is not found, or just return null?
    • IContext::getSubjectSchema(), IContext::setSubjectSchema()
      • Do we need to add these methods? If so, what would be returned?
  • Updates
    • Transaction Semantics: 11.16.2006 F2F Outcomes Each IdAS API is to be atomic. We still need to decide how a joining provider would guarantee atomicity. (IContext.java)
    • Updates to IDigitalSubject instances: discuss whether modifications to a returned IDigitalSubject affect the stored subject. (IContext.java)
    • Can't remove an attribute using updateSubject. (IContext.java)
    • Can't update components of an attribute's value (IContext.java)
    • Can't update single (of many) attribute values or properties.
    • Collisions: Determine what to do when importing data and collisions occur. Does import override, add to , or error when a DS exists? (IContext.java)
  • Data Model
    • Document the special "uniqueIdentifier" attribute
    • Is there a special "digitalSubjectType" attribute? (IDigitalSubject.java)
• Context Factory
  • Policy Format: Describe format in more detail. Give examples. (IContextFactory.java)
  • How are factories registered? (IContextFactory.java)
• Context
  • Policy methods for IContext.
    • I think Tom requested the ability to pass policy/config when creating a context.
    • Can possibly be passed in IContextFactory.createContext URI (contextRef), but is that reasonable?
  • Does export/import only export/import Digital Subjects, or the entire Context (Metadata, Schema, DS, Relationships)? (IContext.java)
  • Export/Import Filter Format: Define the format (IContext.java)
  • Export/Import data representation format. Document what this would look like and how, given the string one could understand what the format is. Is there a registry? (IContext.java)
  • How does IContext.importData handle data collisions?

• Relationships
  • How are two relationships compared for equality? (IHasRelationships.java)
  • Does IHasRelationships.createRelationship also add? (IHasRelationships.java)