[Handle-info] Admin metadata and client API

[Scott Yeadon <scott.yeadon@anu.edu.au>]

Hi,

When I create a new handle 'X' I need to assign the requestor as an 
administrator of that handle. For an admin I need to store some metadata 
such as identity and an authentication provider URL. From the docs it 
looks like I have a number of options open for storing admin metadata:

1) Store admin metadata in handle 'X' record
2) create a new admin handle 'Y' (if the user does not already have one) 
and add an HS_ADMIN reference to handle 'X' pointing to handle 'Y'.

I'm assuming option 2) would be the most normalised?

Then there's the admin metadata:
1) Use reserved indexes for storing the identity and auth provider 
metadata with existing types DESC and URL respectively
2) Using custom types for metadata (e.g. ID, AUTH_PROVIDER) to provide 
for self-describing values

What would be the recommended "best practice" approach here? I need to 
be able to target specific admin metadata - option 1 means the meaning 
of a field can only be maintained through external documentation, option 
2) requires custom types but is self-documenting. I lean towards 2) from 
a clear-code and maintenance point of view but not sure what 
side-effects this introduces in a wider operating environment. 
Christophe mentioned we could register and describe our types using an 
existing XML schema so would be happy to do that.

In the Java client API, what is the most efficient means to retrieve a 
handle and its admins? The only obvious class I could see was the 
Resolver class, so does this mean I need to use it to resolve the 
initial handle and then subsequent calls to resolve admin handles? The 
docs state the resolver class is for "high level interaction with the 
handle system" so was wondering does this mean there are more efficient 
means available for obtaining related handles and their values?

Scott.


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