[jdev] IQ Semantics RFC 3920 9.2.3 IQ Semantics

[Chris Mullins]

Michael Finney Wrote:
> Must the 'id' attribute of an IQ stanza be unique?  I do 
> not see the answer in RFC 3920. 


Section 9.1.3 of Core says:

> It is OPTIONAL for the value of the 'id' attribute 
> to be unique globally, within a domain, or within 
> a stream.

Much to my surprise, section 9.2.3 (IQ Semamtics), did not further
restrict this, and make the 'id' attribute unique on a stream. It only
says that the 'id' attribute is required for IQ packets.

>From a practical perspective, the value of the 'id' attribute is
typically unique over a stream. We use GUID's by default which are
globally unique, but most SDK's, Clients, and Servers simply use an
incrementing number. 

Where this typically becomes an issue is on the client side - A client
may send out 5 or 6 (or 100 or 200) IQ requests. As the responses come
back from various clients and servers, the client needs to be able to
match them up with the original sending packet. If the ID attributes
aren't unique, then the matching logic need be very esoteric. 

-- 
Chris Mullins
Coversant, Inc.