[CAP] caplib update (version 1-1_03)

[Art Botterell]

'Fraid you've missed the point, Mike.

What CAP specifies is precisely that information structure, based on  
the social-science research into what makes warning messages  
effective.  All the DMIS WSDL file teaches your code is one  
particular way of moving that CAP information structure around.

Maybe you've fallen into the easy error of imagining that a  
"protocol" is a single-layer thing.  In fact it takes a whole stack  
of protocols to move data.  At the lower layers we're talking about  
TCP/IP and various physical and link protocols (ethernet, WiFi,  
etc.).  WSDL operates at a higher layer, and CAP at a higher layer  
still.

There are various models of the various layers involved in networked  
communications, but the nearest to a standard is the 7-layer OSI  
stack: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model>.  In that framework,  
WSDL describes arrangements in the Session layer, while CAP is a  
structure in the Presentation layer.  (TCP and IP are on the  
Transport and Network layers, respectively.)

So be careful about jumping to conclusions.  WSDL helps us figure out  
how data can move from computer to computer, but it doesn't define  
what that data should be.  That's where CAP comes in.

- Art


On Dec 21, 2005, at 12/21/05 2:24 PM, Mike Heese wrote:
> Art,
>
> When I connect to the DMIS Server, I use their WSDL file to  
> retrieve the
> functions for communicating with DMIS. In the WSDL file, there is  
> only a
> simple structure I need to populate with the necessary alert data  
> and a
> function for passing the structure back to DMIS.
>
> Given this, the CAP Protocol doesn't really apply anymore? In this  
> scenario,
> as long as I populate the structure properly, that's it. I don't  
> have to
> worry about field tags or anything else in the XML stream. The CAP  
> Protocol
> has now become totally transparent to me.
>
> What I'm wondering is, with the popularity of Web Services and the  
> WSDL
> methods, CAP somewhat becomes non-applicable. The only thing that  
> really
> follows any format would be the structure I populate, however, this
> structure is totally dependent on the Web Service and can pretty  
> much be
> anything the Web Service developer wants.
>
> I'm just curious what the future of CAP is with these much better  
> methods
> available now?
>
> R,
> Mike H.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cap-list-bounces at lists.incident.com
> [mailto:cap-list-bounces at lists.incident.com]On Behalf Of Art Botterell
> Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2005 3:57 PM
> To: cap-list at lists.incident.com
> Subject: [CAP] caplib update (version 1-1_03)
>
>
> Friends -
>
> An updated caplib is available at <http://www.incident.com/caplib>.
> This new version adds three features:
>
> 1) An optional setting ( Alert.setStylesheetName() ) that will cause
> a processing instruction to be added the CAP XML for referencing an
> XSL stylesheet;
>
> 2) Ability to adjust or eliminate the indent in XML renderings
> (thanks to David Robinson); and,
>
> 3) A new function ( Alert.getBounds() ) which returns a simple lat/
> lon "bounding box" for the alert.  This is mostly useful as an
> approximate way of determining if a given location is inside the
> target area of the alert, by seeing if the coordinates of interest
> lie between the returned maximum and minimum values for latitude and
> longitude (the corners of the bounding box is in the form
> "latMax,lonMin latMin,lonMax").
>
> Thanks again for all your interest, input and support!
>
> - Art
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