On Wed March 23 2005 09:18, Yakov Shafranovich wrote:
Hmm... I do think that probably every single spreadsheet program I have seen uses the optional header format so it is pretty common. Since I am trying to document a common format to go along with the MIME type, something that common deserves to be documented. As for more complex cases of headers, as you have said those can be easily accomodated within the basic format while omitting the initial header line used by spreadsheets.
How does a processor of the MIME type determine whether or not an optional header is in the media? Making the header mandatory would obviate the question (generators can supply a line with all null fields). A parameter indicating presence or absence of a header line (and possibly other format variations) could be defined. If optional, defaults would have to be specified in case the parameter is not specified.