Date:         Tue, 9 Jul 2002 16:36:31 -0400
Reply-To:     "Z39.50 Next-Generation Initiative" <[log in to unmask]>
Sender:       "Z39.50 Next-Generation Initiative" <[log in to unmask]>
From:         Ray Denenberg <[log in to unmask]>
Organization: Library Of Congress
Subject:      Re: sort parameter
Comments: To: "Z39.50 Next-Generation Initiative" <[log in to unmask]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Robert Sanderson wrote:

> > I thought the solution we agreed upon was that this and other features would
> > be implicit in the sort key name.
>
> Yes, but under duress :)  Or more accurately, that it works if the key
> only has one thing tacked on the end, but will we end up with monsters
> like:
>
> <sortkey xsi:type="xsd:string">
> AuthorLastNameCommaFirstNameAscendingCaseSensitiveMissingValueOmit
> </sortkey>

No! "implicit" not "explicit".

We haven't really said what these keys will look like, but one possibility is that
your server would support  keys:
'author1' defined as: Author: " Last name, first name" Ascending, Case Sensitive,
Missing Value Omit\
'author2':  " Last name, first name" Descending.....

And that these are either well-known or discoverable via explain.

> In terms of Theo's desire for having one request to send to many servers, ...

If that's what we want, we want well-known key names.

--Ray