Running TAP/async jobs immediately: Proposal Text

[Walter Landry]

Hello Everyone,

Since there is a new draft TAP spec, can we insert language allowing
users to immediately run async jobs?  Being able to immediately run
jobs is a nice convenience for the users.  Also, if a query is usually
very fast, it can reduce network traffic: 3 connections (submit,
check, fetch) instead of 4 (submit, run, check, fetch).

As far as I can tell, this would require changes to section 5.1.1 and
5.1.3.  I have attached proposed text below.

Cheers,
Walter Landry


============================

5.1.1  Creating and Executing a Simple Query

Asynchronous queries are created in the same way as synchronous, using
one of the async endpoints, for example:

  HTTP POST http://example.com/tap/async
  LANG=ADQL
  QUERY=SELECT * FROM magnitudes AS m WHERE m.r>=10 AND m.r<=16

The service's response to this request is an HTTP redirect with a URL
fo the query job:

  HTTP status 303 'See other'
  Location: http://example.com/tap/async/42

The query result or an error document can then be retrieved from a URL
associated with the job. This is an application of the UWS
pattern.  The query is then executed with a separate request to run the job URL:

  HTTP POST http://example.com/tap/async/42/phase
  PHASE=RUN

Alternatively, the job can be executed immediately by setting
"PHASE=RUN" in the initial submission.  The state of the job can be
retrieved from the phase resource:

  HTTP GET http://example.com/tap/async/42/phase

The client may have to check the phase multiple times until the job
finishes. Once the returned value is COMPLETED, the results can be
obtained from the results resource:

  HTTP GET http://example.com/tap/async/42/results/result


============================

5.1.3  Running a Query

The phase URL shows the progress of the job. If not otherwise
specified, when the job is created by the service the phase will
normally be set to PENDING.  It might be set to ERROR if the service
has rejected the job. If the phase is ERROR, then the error URL should
lead to a an error document explaining the problem. If the phase is
PENDING, then the client needs to commit the job for execution.

The client runs the job by posting to the phase URL:

  HTTP POST http://example.com/tap/async/42/phase
  PHASE=RUN

The phase may also be set during the initial submission.  The service
replies with a redirection to the job URL

  HTTP status 303 'see other'
  Location: http://example.com/tap/async/42

... (rest of section is unchanged)