[TAP] field name attribute == column name

[Douglas Tody]

VOTable is a general container.  It is reasonable for a specific
application such as TAP to place additional constraints on the
contents of a VOTable, such as what is allowed for NAME.  It seems
clear that we do need to do so in order to use VOTable for table
uploads (probably there will be some other restrictions as well).

> In the general case, VOTables will have to be
> modified before upload to TAP (unless they come from another TAP service)...
> is that good enough?

I think that VOTables intended for uploading tables to TAP will be
specifically generated for this purpose.

 	- Doug


On Mon, 27 Apr 2009, Patrick Dowler wrote:

> 
> 
> We recently discussed using the name attribute of FIELD to map directly to
> the column name, in both directions. In a result table, the name attributes
> contain the name(s) or column alias(es). This places a limitation on legal
> values for the name attribute: it must be a legal ADQL column name. If a
> VOTable is uploaded to a TAP service, the caller can assume the name(s) are
> the column names and use them in the query.
> 
> 
> However, in other uses of VOTable, the name is used as something to display
> to users, which inevitably means that VOTables made by other services and
> for other purposes will not generally have name(s) that satisfy the more
> strict "ADQL column name requirement".
> 
> 
> Example: We are developing a web interface that uses VOTable for content,
> and we want both nice display and tables that are usable with TAP. Is there
> any way to achieve this? In the general case, VOTables will have to be
> modified before upload to TAP (unless they come from another TAP service)...
> is that good enough?
> 
> 
> --
> 
> 
> Patrick Dowler
> Tel/Tél: (250) 363-0044
> Canadian Astronomy Data Centre
> National Research Council Canada
> 5071 West Saanich Road
> Victoria, BC V9E 2M7
> 
> 
> Centre canadien de donnees astronomiques
> Conseil national de recherches Canada
> 5071, chemin West Saanich
> Victoria (C.-B.) V9E 2M7
>