WEBDAV and HTTP enable client-side searching by defining a simple set of mechanisms (the PROPFIND and GET methods) to locate those resources meeting client-defined criteria. These mechanisms can be inefficient, do not adequately deal with some simple content-based queries, and do not take advantage of the advanced querying and caching capabilities of modern storage systems.
The DASL Protocol will enable a HTTP/1.1 compliant scheme for server-side searching to address these limitations. The working group will define the following for a server-side searching mechanism:
A generalized search mechanism is a broad problem space. It encompasses a variety of object models, typing schemes, and media. By focusing on a subset of this space, the problem of locating resources based on property values and text content, the working group will leverage much of the existing work that has been done on querying under simple property and resource models.
The final output of this working group is expected to be two documents:
(1) A requirements document, that describes the high-level functional requirements for DASL, including rationale. This will be an Informational document.
(2) A protocol specification describing the additions to HTTP (new methods, headers, request bodies, and response bodies) needed to implement the DASL requirements. This will be a Standards Track document.