Server specific examples

[Markus Demleitner]

Hi Bruce, dear all,

On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 06:25:06PM +0100, bruce gendre wrote:
> that's my first message on this ML, just to give my 2 cents. At ASDC
Welcome...

> catalogs and high energy mission archives. My first point is quite
> obvious, here we would prefer a static end point where we can do
> "what we want" rather than a more rigid structure linked the
> TAP_SCHEMA.
Ok -- I'd say unless someone speaks up for TAP_SCHEMA now, that
particular proposal is dead.

I'm a bit alarmed at the "what we want" part, though.  So far, the
plan with /examples has been to specifically provide sample
*queries*.  I don't think we should blur that, mainly because I think
the more machine-readable we can keep the whole thing the better --
which roughly means "have a narrow focus".

> The second comment is that our TAP service will serve VOTable
> (catalogs) and FITS (HE data), so I think the example end point
> should merge a mandatory VOTable (machine and post-doc readable) and
> a mandatory HTML description (user readable). TAP providers should
> insert (if they want) other formats, but these should not be
> mandatory.
Hm -- what kind of use case do you have in mind for including a FITS
in /examples?

> compared to a catalog, so I think an /example endpoint is really a
> good think, if it can be customized by the TAP service provider.
Would the "microformat-based" HTML I suggested in the orignal mail
provide enough flexibility for you?

Cheers,

         Markus