Resources

The server is composed of resources. All resources inherit the IResource interface.

Here is the IResource interface :

interface IResource
{
    parent : IResource
    fsManager : FSManager

    // ****************************** Actions ****************************** //
    create(callback : SimpleCallback)
    delete(callback : SimpleCallback)
    moveTo(parent : IResource, newName : string, overwrite : boolean, callback : SimpleCallback)
    rename(newName : string, callback : Return2Callback<string, string>)
    
    // ****************************** Content ****************************** //
    write(targetSource : boolean, callback : ReturnCallback<Writable>)
    read(targetSource : boolean, callback : ReturnCallback<Readable>)
    mimeType(targetSource : boolean, callback : ReturnCallback<string>)
    size(targetSource : boolean, callback : ReturnCallback<number>)
    
    // ****************************** Locks ****************************** //
    getLocks(callback : ReturnCallback<Lock[]>)
    setLock(lock : Lock, callback : SimpleCallback)
    removeLock(uuid : string, callback : ReturnCallback<boolean>)
    getAvailableLocks(callback : ReturnCallback<LockKind[]>)
    getLock(uuid : string, callback : ReturnCallback<Lock>)

    // ****************************** Children ****************************** //
    addChild(resource : IResource, callback : SimpleCallback)
    removeChild(resource : IResource, callback : SimpleCallback)
    getChildren(callback : ReturnCallback<IResource[]>)

    // ****************************** Properties ****************************** //
    setProperty(name : string, value : ResourcePropertyValue, callback : SimpleCallback)
    getProperty(name : string, callback : ReturnCallback<ResourcePropertyValue>)
    removeProperty(name : string, callback : SimpleCallback)
    getProperties(callback : ReturnCallback<object>)
    
    // ****************************** Std meta-data ****************************** //
    creationDate(callback : ReturnCallback<number>)
    lastModifiedDate(callback : ReturnCallback<number>)
    webName(callback : ReturnCallback<string>)
    displayName?(callback : ReturnCallback<string>)
    type(callback : ReturnCallback<ResourceType>)
    
    // ****************************** Gateway ****************************** //
    gateway?(arg : MethodCallArgs, path : FSPath, callback : (error : Error, resource ?: IResource) => void)
}

For more information about the above callbacks, look at the Common callbacks page.

For more information about each method, look at the Custom resources page.

A resource can have :

Description	Needed by	Related methods
Child resources	Directory	addChild(resource : IResource, callback : SimpleCallback)
		removeChild(resource : IResource, callback : SimpleCallback)
		getChildren(callback : ReturnCallback<IResource[]>)
A content	File	write(targetSource : boolean, callback : ReturnCallback<Writable>)
		read(targetSource : boolean, callback : ReturnCallback<Readable>)
A mime-type	File	mimeType(targetSource : boolean, callback : ReturnCallback<string>)
A size	File	size(targetSource : boolean, callback : ReturnCallback<number>)
Properties	All	setProperty(name : string, value : ResourcePropertyValue, callback : SimpleCallback)
		getProperty(name : string, callback : ReturnCallback<ResourcePropertyValue>)
		removeProperty(name : string, callback : SimpleCallback)
		getProperties(callback : ReturnCallback<object>)
Locks	All	getLocks(callback : ReturnCallback<Lock[]>)
		setLock(lock : Lock, callback : SimpleCallback)
		removeLock(uuid : string, callback : ReturnCallback<boolean>)
		getAvailableLocks(callback : ReturnCallback<LockKind[]>)
		getLock(uuid : string, callback : ReturnCallback<Lock>)
A name	All	webName(callback : ReturnCallback<string>)
A name to display	None	displayName?(callback : ReturnCallback<string>)
A creation date	All	creationDate(callback : ReturnCallback<number>)
A modification date	All	lastModifiedDate(callback : ReturnCallback<number>)
A type	All	type(callback : ReturnCallback<ResourceType>)

Content

Source and processed

A resource can have two kinds of content : a source content and a processed content. It is selected by the user with the source header. If the source header is omitted, the default value will be false. This header can be used with the WebDAV methods : GET, HEAD, PROPFIND and PUT. Depending on the implementation of the target resource, the header can be ignored. For instance, if a resource provides a raw text content without processing, the result of a GET request asking the source will be the same as the result of the same request asking the processed content.

GET /file HTTP/1.1
Source: T
Content-Length: 0

This request asks the source content of a resource located at /file.

GET /file HTTP/1.1
Source: F
Content-Length: 0

This request asks the processed content of a resource located at /file.

Storage

The content of the resource can be stored in memory, physicaly, remotely, etc.

Here are the current implementations' storage method :

Implementation/Class	Method
PhysicalFile	Store the content in the file specified in its constructor.
VirtualFile	Store the content in memory. A serialization will embbed the content in its properties, making this resource fast but inappropriate for large contents.
VirtualStoredFile	Store the content in a file generated for this purpose. A VirtualStoredContentManager will allocate a file for the resource and manage its content by a unique id and store the content of all related VirtualStoredFile into a folder.

Children

A resource might have children of different type. For instance, A VirtualFolder can have children of type VirtualFile, VirtualFolder, but PhysicalFile too (and others). The server makes no restriction on the children type, but the resource itself can. A custom folder resource can restrict the type of its children, for instance, to make a filtering.

Type

The type of a resource can be (class ResourceType) :

-	Is a directory	Is not a directory
Is a file	Hibrid	File
Is not a file	Directory	NoResource

Here are the differences between the resource types :

-	Hibrid	File	Directory	NoResource
Can have content	yes	yes	no	no
Can have child resource	yes	no	yes	no
Is standard (RFC)	no	yes	yes	no

Root resource

The root resource (class RootResource) is a resource which disallow almost everything (no copy, no move, etc), but provides a static root folder. It is instanciated by default if no option.rootResource is provided to the constructor of the server. This resource is a virtual resource. That's why, if you create a child through the WebDAV interface (HTTP), it will be a virtual resource.

Method	Must be allowed?		Method	Must be allowed?
create	no		delete	no
moveTo	no		rename	no
append	may		write	may
read	may		mimeType	may
size	may		getLocks	yes
setLock	yes		removeLock	yes
canLock	yes		getAvailableLocks	yes
canRemoveLock	yes		getLock	yes
addChild	yes		removeChild	yes
getChildren	yes		setProperty	yes
getProperty	yes		removeProperty	yes
getProperties	yes		creationDate	yes
lastModifiedDate	may		webName	yes
type	yes

Resource creation

When a user create a resource through the WebDAV interface (HTTP), it will inherit the parent file system manager. For instance, if you create a file or a folder as a child of the path /myFolder and myFolder contains a virtual file system manager, then the file or folder created will be a virtual file or a virtual folder. The same reflection can be made with the physical resources and custom resources. The file system manager is in charge of the creation of the resource object (not to call .create(...), just the object). This way, you can have a behavior for a resource (the resource class itself) and a different behavior for its children (the file system manager).

If you create a resource through the module (for instance in JavaScript), you can add as child of a resource the kind of resource you want. You are limited only by the type of the parent resource and its implementation.