Re: [VCARDDAV] [Technical Errata Reported] RFC6350 (3100)

["Javier Godoy" <[e-mail]>]

On February 6, 2012 2:21 PM -0500 Cyrus Daboo wrote.

> --On February 6, 2012 1:55:01 PM -0500 Simon Perreault
> <[e-mail]> wrote:
>
>> There is no
>> way we can change the ABNF so that the example becomes correct. The
>> example is just wrong. We must fix it with one of these:
>>
>> TYPE=foo,bar
>> TYPE=foo,TYPE=bar

TYPE=foo;TYPE=bar


>> TYPE="foo","bar"

I'm not sure about this one.

On <http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/vcarddav/current/msg02476.html> Simon
said that "all parameters can be implicitly quoted", but the published text of
RFC 6350 suggests that some parameters cannot be quoted, because the ABNF only
allows gratuitous quotes in TZ, ALTID, LABEL, SORT-AS and any-param (which are
defined in terms of param-value):

  param-value = *SAFE-CHAR / DQUOTE *QSAFE-CHAR DQUOTE

  tz-parameter  = "TZ=" (param-value / DQUOTE URI DQUOTE)
  altid-param   = "ALTID=" param-value
  label-param   = "LABEL=" param-value
  sort-as-param = "SORT-AS=" sort-as-value
  any-param  = (iana-token / x-name) "=" param-value *("," param-value)


Thus ALTID="1" would be valid, while TYPE="foo" would not, because type-param
is defined as

  type-param = "TYPE=" type-value *("," type-value)
  type-value = "work" / "home" / type-param-tel
             / type-param-related / iana-token / x-name

If quoted values such as TYPE="foo" were valid, they should be explicitly
allowed (at least as a general comment in section 5, applying to all parameter
types).


> And perhaps we should have an example of 'TYPE="foo,bar"' and explain that
> that represents a single parameter value of "foo,bar" just to re-iterate the
> point.

+1, though "foo,bar" is not a valid type-value.

Perhaps this clarification fits best for the SORT-AS param.

For instance, the value of the SORT-AS parameter in
    N;SORT-AS="Mann,James":de Mann;Henry,James;;
is a single param-value "Mann,James" that applies to the surname, and no
sort-string is specified for the given name.

On the other hand, the value of the SORT-AS parameter in
   N;SORT-AS="Mann","James":de Mann;Henry,James;;
is a list of two param-values: the first one "Mann" applies to the surname,
and the second one "James" applies to the given name.

In this case, both examples are valid according to the ABNF, but have
different meanings.

BTW, the sort results in section 5.9 do not change, because both "Henry" and
"James" sorts between "Christine" and "Osamu".


Best Regards

Javier