Re: Two new Internet drafts: DIME and WS-Attachments

Hi,

Sure, that makes sense. Now here is another question: I'm considering the
use of an option block to carry info for debugging purposes, such as record
sequence number. This leads to the matter of the ELEMENT_T value. Would it
be useful to define in the spec a value or small range of values reserved
for test purposes, with no fixed format? OTH maybe it would be better if the
spec could define some generic option formats for diagnostics/testing
purposes.

RC

> Hi Bob,

> You are right that the connection between the description in section 2.4
> is never made to the actual field element names. You are also right in
> your interpretation (and that it sort of can be deduced), but what about
> this clarification:
>
> Option Elements
> ---------------
>
> ELEMENT_T
>
> The ELEMENT_T field value indicates the structure and format of the
> value of the ELEMENT_DATA field of an option element (see section 2.4
> for a description of DIME options). The ELEMENT_T field is an unsigned
> 16 bit integer with values controlled by IANA (see section 6.2 for IANA
> guidelines).
>
> ELEMENT_LENGTH

> An unsigned 16 bit integer that specifies the length in octets of the
> ELEMENT_DATA field of an option element (see section 2.4 for a
> description of DIME options). Note that individual ELEMENT_DATA field
> values are not padded and do not require a length which is a multiple of
> 4 octets (see section 3.2.11 for alignment of the OPTIONS field).
>
> ELEMENT_DATA
>
> The ELEMENT_DATA field carries the data of the option element identified
> by the ELEMENT_T and of length indicated by the ELEMENT_LENGTH. The
> ELEMENT_DATA field is not padded and the length does not have to be a
> multiple of 4 octets.
>
> >In section 3.2.11 "OPTIONS" the types of the ELEMENT_T and
> >ELEMENT_LENGTH subfields aren't fully specified. The
> >discussion in section 2.4 does create the impression that the
> >option type is an unsigned integer, and I have no doubt the
> >length is an unsigned 16 bit integer. Can this be clarified in
> >the spec?
>
> Makes sense?
>
> Henrik