Subject: [weirds] asEventActor with embedded entities

From: Andy Newton <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:05:24 +0000

All,

As I'm going through the NicInfo code to bring up to speed with the latest
draft, I've discovered a slight problem with embedded entities (new with
the latest draft).

The asEventActor array allows an entity to be an event actor of a
containing object. In the previous model for a domain or ip network, the
event acting entity would be contained by the domain or ip network.
However, it is now possible to have the event acting entity contained
within another entity but still intend for it to be the event actor for
the domain or ip network.

A simple solution to his would be to have 'target' value inside
asEventActor that could contain the self href of the object upon which the
entity is an event actor.  It would look like this:

"asEventActor":
[
  {
    "eventAction": "last changed",
    "eventDate" : "2013-12-13T23:50:60Z",
    "target": "http://example.net/rdap/domain/foo.example"
  }
]

That way an entity can target any object in the response, not just the one
that contains it.

Comments welcomed. :)

-andy

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From: Ernie Dainow <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:14:21 -0400

Shouldn't "target" be a links structure, perhaps with a more appropriate 
name like "eventLink"?

To be symmetrical with this, the events structure should also have a 
link. It is unclear what kind identifier is used for "eventActor" in an 
events array. Some examples in json-response-04 use an email address, 
some seem to be a handle. If it is not specifically a handle, then 
eventActor should have an optional link to be able to get to the entity 
from an event.

-Ernie

On 6/18/2013 2:05 PM, Andy Newton wrote:
> _______________________________________________
> weirds mailing list
> [email-masked]
> https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/weirds

---

From: Andy Newton <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:27:12 +0000

>Shouldn't "target" be a links structure, perhaps with a more appropriate

I'm fine with that. What would the relation type be? "related"?

>link.

What purpose would that serve? The events structure is describing an event
on the containing object. I suppose we could but I see no need for it.

> It is unclear what kind identifier is used for "eventActor" in an

That's because in some registries it is an email address while in others
it is a handle and in others it would be a full blown entity. The
eventActor is simply an opaque identifier. There's no good way to
normalize that.

-andy

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From: Ernie Dainow <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:48:09 -0400

> I'm fine with that. What would the relation type be? "related"?
Seems to be the best fit from the IANA list.

> on the containing object. I suppose we could but I see no need for it.
An example is a domain object that has an event for the creation date by 
a registrar (eventActor), where the server can return the detailed 
entity for the eventActor if a link is provided.

> eventActor is simply an opaque identifier. There's no good way to
OK, it might be worth adding a note to this effect to help distinguish 
among the many "identifiers" used in the document .

-Ernie

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From: Andy Newton <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:55:07 +0000

>Seems to be the best fit from the IANA list.

Works for me!

>entity for the eventActor if a link is provided.

In other words, a reference to an entity that can be fetched via the URL
by an RDAP client but is not in the current response? Is that the use
case? Or is the URL generic (as in, it doesn't necessarily point to an
RDAP entity)?

>among the many "identifiers" used in the document .

Sounds like a good idea.

-andy

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From: Ernie Dainow <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:32:18 -0400

On 6/19/2013 2:55 PM, Andy Newton wrote:
>>>> To be symmetrical with this, the events structure should also have a link.

I was thinking of the first case. A url to an RDAP entity that is not in 
the response is kind of important.

Perhaps both can be supported, the first is a "self" link, an external 
url to say a registrar web site could be an "about" or "service" link.

-Ernie

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From: Andy Newton <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 12:16:07 +0000

>url to say a registrar web site could be an "about" or "service" link.

As a client writer, I'm a little apprehensive about this but overall I
agree that it makes sense.

-andy