• Name: Add
• Alternate Name: CRUD

This Service Genre has been prepared from a number of disparate projects and work. This Service Genre has been developed to provide a description of the behaviours required when a service wishes to offer functionality allowing for the creation, update and deletion of data items within collections of like data.

• v1.1

This Service Genre describes the insertions of objects into collections of like objects. This MAY also include the metadata associated with an object. An ICT architecture that offers a service of the Add genre will be able to support remote updates of items within their collections.

Add implementations will typically also offer the users the functionality to update and delete existing objects within collections.

Typical implementations assign a unique identifier to objects within their collections, and also persist data in some form until it is explicitly removed. However, it is not inconceivable that other processes could consume added data very rapidly; or that a collection would be deleted at the end of a session.

As defined the Add Service Genre is not access controlled. Any client may attempt to contact an Add service end point. There are no authentication controls. The service end point is responsible for determining which clients can Add content.

The Add Service Genre supports three functions:

1. Create – The creation of a new object within the collection. (Includes collections of size zero – e.g. the first entry in a blog, or the first record within a table in a database).
2. Update – The update of an existing object within the collection. This is an atomic operation, updating the entire object, rather than altering one or more individual data fields within the object.
3. Delete – The removal of an existing object from a collection. This is an atomic operation, and the object being removed must exist within the collection.

No other functionality is defined. The functionality that is defined MAY be extended.

Some examples of where Add services might be employed are Blogs – where users can add new postings (and comments), Digital Libraries, where new digital objects can be added to existing collections, and e-Archives, where digital copies of artefacts can be added to the online database.

Add Services SHOULD be strict as regards the types of data that they accept. Add Services SHOULD NOT be used to process any generic data.

In all cases, implementing services SHOULD be strict on the type of data being accepted.

Create SHALL meet the following conditions:

• The Request SHOULD specify:
  • The content data.
• The Request MAY specify:
  • Metadata regarding the content data.

Update SHALL meet the following conditions:

• The Request SHOULD specify:
  • The target content data to update.
  • The content data
• The Request MAY specify:
  • Metadata regarding the content data

Delete SHALL meet the following conditions:

• The Request SHOULD specify:
  • The target content data to be deleted

Responses SHOULD indicate error conditions.

NB: Service Expressions MAY specify identifiers instead of content data for targets in the Update and Delete requests.

Individual Service Expressions SHOULD provide models showing how clients interact with service interfaces.

None

Applications making use of Add style services should pay particular attention to issues around Authentication and Authorisation – to ensure the integrity of the collections being manipulated.

• UK HE Admissions Structured Personal Statement v1.2
• Identity and Access Management v1.0
• Blog v1.5

© Copyright, The e-Framework Partners 2006

Attribute this work as:
Add Genre, The e-Framework Partners, 2006. Derived from...

Attribution History:

1. Derived from Add Genre authored and submitted by Phil Nicholls on behalf of the JISC (e-Framework Partner), 2006

Last updated 14 October 2008