Page format

Pages utilize the multipart media type for formatting, as specified in RFC 2046.

To differentiate between entities within a multipart document, a Content-Type header specifying a boundary is required: multipart/mixed; boundary="<random-boundary>". While the primary subtype for multipart documents should be multipart/mixed, it’s important for consumers to handle any other subtype. This boundary, a unique string not found in the content, separates each entity.

NOTE: According to RFC 2046, empty pages are not possible.

Required and optional entity headers

Each entity within a page must include specific headers.

Content-Length

The optional Content-Length specifies the size of the entity’s content in bytes. It helps producers to determine if the current page has reached its capacity, resulting to create a new page for the addition of subsequent entities.

Additional headers for feed entities

Content-ID

The Content-ID header is used to uniquely identify an entity within a feed. It is required for every feed entity and must be unique within a feed.

Operation-Type

The Operation-Type header is used to indicate the operation that was performed on the entity. Possible values are: PUT, DELETE, PATCH.

Examples:

Snapshot page:

--<random-boundary>
Content-Type: text/plain
Last-Modified: Thu, 5 Oct 2023 03:00:13 GMT
Content-Length: 5

Hello
--<random-boundary>
Content-Type: text/plain
Last-Modified: Thu, 5 Oct 2023 03:00:14 GMT
Content-Length: 8

Snapshot
--<random-boundary>--

Feed page:

--<random-boundary>
Operation-Type: http-equiv=PUT
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-ID: <1-A@random-content-id>
Last-Modified: Mon, 27 Nov 2023 03:10:00 GMT
Content-Length: 5

hello
--<random-boundary>
Operation-Type: http-equiv=PUT
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-ID: <1-B@random-content-id>
Last-Modified: Mon, 27 Nov 2023 03:10:00 GMT
Content-Length: 4

Feed
--<random-boundary>--