[Opensim-dev] REST handlers use partial string matching

[Jim Williams]

I think the correct way to look at this is that any URI "..../handler/..."
should be passed to the correct "handler" handler; which should then pass
the rest of the path on to any sub-handlers as appropriate.  You shouldn't
be looking at the parts of a path element unless it is the leaf (follows
the last slash).  The URI began life as a directory tree, and you would not
match part of the directory thinking it was a file.  Any valid semantic URI
parser will interpret elements of a URI strictly in context, and never
assume anything about elements except within the context of the element to
its immediate left.

It would be ok for /asset and /asset_test to be treated as a match, but
never ok for /asset/ and /asset_test or /asset_test/ to match.  One is
matching a directory to a file, and the other is matching two different
directories.



On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 3:08 PM, Mic Bowman <cmickeyb at gmail.com> wrote:

> so what you're saying is just make sure the '/' is part of the match? to
> terminate the match? i think the problem is that /asset matches /asset_test
> which is not what is expected. so all registered partial matches should
> include the trailing '/' to disambiguate... or am i missing the point?
>
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 12:00 PM, Melanie <melanie at t-data.com> wrote:
>
>> It is required because it's the basis of "extra path info". It's not
>> part of REST, but rather part of HTTP.
>>
>> Requesting
>>
>> /asset/456392f6-c0b3-a346-6465-8218cbe7abe84592
>>
>> which is not a registered URL, will invoke
>>
>> /asset/
>>
>> which is. The ID passed as part of the URL is then given to that
>> handler as the extra path info. You have the same thing in apache.
>>
>> Basically, any URL longer than and starting with a registered URL
>> will invoke that registered URL with extra path info.
>> The fallacy in our server is that the matching isn't by path parts,
>> but character-wise.
>>
>> Melanie
>>
>> On 01/04/2014 20:03, Justin Clark-Casey wrote:
>> > In what context is such partial matching required?  It is not a
>> requirement of REST, as far as I know.
>> >
>> > On 01/04/14 18:55, Melanie wrote:
>> >> The REST URLs need to use partial matching, however, current
>> >> semantics are broken.
>> >>
>> >> Without partial matching, URLS like /assets/782911..... would not
>> >> work. the issue here is that it should match whole URL parts, not
>> >> partial URL parts. Matching partial words as it does now seems like
>> >> someone was cutting corners, it's not by design.
>> >>
>> >> /assets/ should match /assets/9887234...... but not /assets_exist.
>> >> The slash is the differentiator and partial compares of URL string
>> >> prefixes should be done by full-string matches of slash/delimited
>> >> parts, not prefix matching of the entire URL.
>> >>
>> >> Melanie
>> >>
>> >> On 01/04/2014 15:00, Oren Hurvitz wrote:
>> >>> I tried to add a REST handler at the endpoint "/assets_exist". It
>> turns out
>> >>> that I can't do that, because REST handlers are searched using partial
>> >>> string matches, so servers that don't implement the new handler will
>> >>> mistakenly choose the "/assets" endpoint instead.
>> >>>
>> >>> For now, I solved the problem by using a different endpoint:
>> >>> "/get_assets_exist".
>> >>>
>> >>> For the future, I think that this should be changed so that only full
>> string
>> >>> matches work. Otherwise each time a new handler is added it will have
>> to
>> >>> find an endpoint name that isn't a prefix of any current endpoint -- a
>> >>> difficult and error-prone task. Before I do that, does anyone know of
>> >>> endpoints that rely on the current behavior (partial string matches)?
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> --
>> >>> View this message in context:
>> http://opensim-dev.2196679.n2.nabble.com/REST-handlers-use-partial-string-matching-tp7579119.html
>> >>> Sent from the opensim-dev mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>> >>> _______________________________________________
>> >>> Opensim-dev mailing list
>> >>> Opensim-dev at lists.berlios.de
>> >>> https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> Opensim-dev mailing list
>> >> Opensim-dev at lists.berlios.de
>> >> https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> _______________________________________________
>> Opensim-dev mailing list
>> Opensim-dev at lists.berlios.de
>> https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Opensim-dev mailing list
> Opensim-dev at lists.berlios.de
> https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev
>



-- 
No essence.  No permanence.  No perfection.  Only action.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://opensimulator.org/pipermail/opensim-dev/attachments/20140401/988c03cb/attachment-0001.html>