ID-DAP and ID-SIS

Just a quick comment! I’m busy writing some documentation for the Symlabs Federated Identity Suite, and I came across a reference issue. Symlabs consistently used ID-DAP to refer to one of the ID-WSF specifications supported by the product. However, it seems that the Liberty Alliance group that has defined the specification refers to it as ID-SIS-DAP. To be fair, the specification is still relatively new, and the major contributors to the specification have been staff working for Symlabs.

However, it is worth bearing in mind that when searching online for references to the specification, you should probably search for both names.

To provide a little clarification on what I am referring to, the ID-DAP specification sets out a secure methodology for Web Service Clients (WSCs) to perform general data access operations within a Liberty Web Services Framework without having to reveal any of a user’s personal information. In essence ID-DAP standardizes the way in which WSCs can make data requests from WSPs. However, the WSP can use any protocol to retrieve data from the backend.

ID-DAP is useful for covering data requirements that fall outside of the rest of the ID-WSF services. Essentially, ID-DAP is an evolution of ID-WSF in that it can also be used as an alternative to most of the services as it allows for generic data access. That said, by adhering to the other ID-WSF service specifications you will find that it is easier to integrate applications that make use of services targeted to a specific concrete use, as you will be more able to predict the types of requests that these applications are likely to make. In general, the specific services defined in the ID-WSF specifications are easier to implement than ID-DAP precisely because they are less generic.

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