New HTTP Methods

The HTTP methods defined by WebDAV are:

PROPFIND

Retrieves the properties (metadata) of a resource. Properties are key/value pairs, whose values can be a XML document. Examples of properties are author's name, modification date and content type. There are two types of properties in WebDAV: ``live'' and ``dead''. The ``live'' properties are control by the server, as the author's name and getcontentlength. Some of the live properties are read-only and their values are maintained by the server; other live properties can be changed by the client, but the server performs syntax checking on their values. The ``dead'' properties are not controlled by the server - it stores only their values. The client is responsible for maintaining their syntax and semantics. The PROPFIND method is used to find the directory listings;

PROPPATCH

Sets one or more properties on one or more resources, i.e. it provides the ability to associate metadata to resources;

MKCOL

Creates a collection (directory) on the server, i.e. this method allows the user to organize the site hierarchy;

COPY

Copies a resource or a collection of resources from a given resource to a given destination, which may not be on the same machine;

MOVE

Moves a resource or a collection of resources from a given resource to a given destination, which may not be on the same machine;

LOCK

Locks a resource or multiple resources. Locking is used to alleviate the problem of overwriting a previous update, although it does not completely eliminate it;

UNLOCK

Unlocks a previously locked resource.