Knowledgebase:
WebDAV and HTTP are not the same
29 August 2013 03:11 PM

Summary

Customers will sometimes run into strange issues when submitting requests to a WebDAV application server from HTTP clients.

Detail

The purpose of WebDAV application servers in MarkLogic is to support the additional HTTP methods provided by the WebDAV RFC. These extra methods include MKCOL, PROPFIND, and COPY. In order to insert a document into a directory that does not exist, the WebDAV client needs to use these HTTP methods to check if the directory exists (PROPFIND), create the directory (MKCOL / PUT), and then insert the document (PUT).

The WebDAV RFC states: "When the MKCOL operation creates a new collection resource, all ancestors must already exist, or the method must fail with a 409 (Conflict) status code. For example, if a request to create collection /a/b/c/d/ is made, and neither /a/b/ nor /a/b/c/ exists, the request must fail."

Simple HTTP clients use only a subset of the methods necessary to properly interact with a WebDAV application server; It is recommended that you only use a WebDAV specific client against a MarkLogic WebDAV application server.

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