RESTful Web Services Cookbook

Appendix D. Atom Syndication Format

This appendix provides a quick overview of how to use Atom entry and feed documents for resources. Figures D-1 and D-2 show a high-level view of the structure of Atom entry and feed elements. For a complete description of these elements, see RFC 4287.

Figure D-1. Atom entry

Figure D-2. Atom feed

Key Elements of Feeds and Entries

Here is a list of the key elements within the Atom entry and feed elements. Note that both feeds and entries are extensible, and you can introduce new attributes and elements.

atom:author

Contained in: atom:feed and atom:entry

The atom:author element represents the person or entity that created the entry or feed. It can contain several child elements including atom:name, atom:uri, and atom:email. A single Atom entry or feed can contain more than one atom:author element. Each atom:author element should have at least an atom:name element. The atom:uri and atom:email elements are optional.

Here is an example of the atom:author element:

<atom:author xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
  <atom:name>J. P. Williams</atom:name>
  <atom:uri>http://www.example.org/jpwill</atom:uri>
  <atom:email>[e-mail]</atom:email>
</atom:author>

If the Atom feed has an atom:author element, each Atom entry need not have an atom:author element. Also, ...