[DAS2] Re: New problem with content-type header in DAS/2 server responses!

[Ed Erwin]

Andrew Dalke wrote:
> 
> 
>> X-DAS-Content-Type: text/x-das-feature+xml
>> X-DAS-Server: GMOD/0.0
>> X-DAS-Status: 200
>> X-DAS-Version: DAS/2.0
>> ==================
>>
>> This also has the added benefit of already being implemented for a few
>> months.  Are there objections to this solution?
> 
> 
> Yes.  Several.
> 
> When did "X-DAS-Status" come back into the picture?  I thought
> we talked about this in spring and nixed it because it doesn't provide
> anything useful than the existing HTTP-level error code.  Or perhaps
> it was fall of last year?  I think I remember raking leaves at the time.
> 
> More useful, for example, would be a document (html, xml, or otherwise)
> which accompanies the error response and gives more information about
> what occurred.
> 

Using the HTTP-level error codes can cause problems.

For a user (let's call her Varla) using IE, the browser will intercept 
some error codes and present her with some IE-specific garbage, throwing 
away any content that was sent back in addition to the error code.

Even for a user (Marla this time) using IGB, firewalls and/or caching 
and/or apache port-forwarding mechanisms can throw out anything with a 
status code in the error range.

(I did test having the NetAffx DAS server send HTTP status codes, and I 
did have problems with that in IGB, though I've forgotten the specifics. 
  It was about a year ago....)

I don't care if status code is indicated with a header like
"X-DAS-Status: 200" or with some XML content, or with both.  But I think 
  the HTTP status code has to be a separate thing, and will usually be 
"400" indicating that the user (sorry, I meant to say LeRoy) 
successfully communicated with the DAS server.

Ed