[Esip-discovery] Datacasting custom elements proposal

[Mattmann, Chris A (388J)]

Hi Sean,

Quick question:

Why not just declare:

<item>...
 <datacasting:maxWinSpeed>81.2</datacasting:maxWinSpeed>
</item>

Cheers,
Chris

On Mar 14, 2011, at 2:19 PM, Mccleese, Sean W (388A) wrote:

> As part of Andrew Bingham’s Datacasting team, I would like to put forth a proposal for DCP-2 (or beyond) to add support for custom elements in Datacasting (or *casting) RSS & Atom feeds.
>  
> The purpose of “custom elements” to enable data providers to define and use domain-specific RSS/Atom elements from within the feed itself without foreknowledge on the part of the user or RSS/Atom viewer. This would enable, for example, a data provider of Datacasting RSS feeds tracking hurricanes to define “Max Wind Speed” as a valid RSS/Atom item element and then use that element within the feed. This would be accomplished through a two-step process: channel-level definitions and item-level use.
>  
> A channel level definition would define the name of the element, its core data type and then units the element represents. Ex:
> <datacasting:customEltDef name="maxWindSpeed" type="float" units="mph" />
>  
> This would inform the feed reader that the item “maxWindSpeed” is present within the feed with a floating point number data type and that the physical representation of the data is in MPH. Then, in order for this data type to appear within the feed’s item-level information, the following example is illustrative:
>  
> (for RSS):
> <item> ….
> <datacasting:customElement name="maxWindSpeed" value="81.2"/>
> </item>
>  
> (for Atom):
> <entry>
> …
> <datacasting:customElement name="maxWindSpeed" value="81.2"/>
> </entry>
>  
> Thus, when viewing the item/entry in the appropriate feed reader, the “maxWindSpeed” element would be displayed along with all the other relevant metadata (e.g. description, author, etc).
>  
> I’ll add this to the Discovery Change Proposals page, but I wanted to make sure to inform the list about this proposed idea. If you’re interested in seeing a working representation of this in action, check out the GHRSST AMSR-E DatacastingRSS feed (http://ghrsst.jpl.nasa.gov/datacasting/AMSRE-L2P-gen.xml) which can be read with the Datacasting Feed Reader (http://datacasting.jpl.nasa.gov)
>  
> Thanks,
> -Sean McClese
> _______________________________________________
> Esip-discovery mailing list
> Esip-discovery at lists.esipfed.org
> http://www.lists.esipfed.org/mailman/listinfo/esip-discovery


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Chris Mattmann, Ph.D.
Senior Computer Scientist
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Pasadena, CA 91109 USA
Office: 171-266B, Mailstop: 171-246
Email: chris.a.mattmann at nasa.gov
WWW:   http://sunset.usc.edu/~mattmann/
Phone: +1 (818) 354-8810
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Adjunct Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089 USA
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