URL: Unused
Http Headers:
  SessionID
  SessionTemplate
  SessionPatientID
Http Body:
  <request patientid=".." template=".." macro="..">

Timeline:

• Http connection.
• Use SessionId to connect to session or use SessionTemplate/SessionPatientID to create new session.
• Feed http body to session which parses it and reacts upon its content.
• Reply to client

Proposition: Remove all use of http headers. Use URI instead. Remove request from http body. Use URI instead.

• Http connection.
• Initial action is decided using the URI:
  • query/coursename[/templatename[/macroname]]?sessionid=42
  • query/coursename[/templatename[/macroname]]?patientid=1234567890
  • commit?sessionid=42 http body containing xml with key/value pairs.
  • discard?sessionid=42

Advantages:

• No xml parsing needed to get required info on how to handle requests.
• The template/patientid does not need to be passed around on the server, since the session lookup/creation is done earlier in the connection.
• Redundancy is removed (http header fields and request xml http body)
• Admin/Client connections can be differentiated without using the Client-Type header thus allowing the browser to act like a client (good for testing).

Disadvantages:

• Admin/Client connections can be differentiated without using the Client-Type header thus allowing the browser to act like a client (may confuse users).