WebDAV and the HTTP Protocol

DAV is implemented on top of the standard HTTP protocol that allows browsers and web servers to communicate. It extends existing HTTP methods and includes new ones, as described here. You will need this knowledge to implement access control for writing to DAV-enabled resources.

• COPY: Copy files or collections (equivalent to file system directories). Additional headers enable you to specify the recursive copy of nested collections.

• MOVE: Move files and collections.

• MKCOL: Creates a new collection. If parent collections do not exist, an error is raised. Parent collections must be explicitly created using the PUT method.

• PROPFIND: You learned earlier that DAV resources could have metadata information associated with them. The PROPFIND method enables you to query this information.

• PROPPATCH: This method enables you to delete, create, and modify resource metadata.

• LOCK and UNLOCK: These methods allow you to lock a resource. This is useful, for example, for preventing modification to a resource while you are editing it.

The DAV protocol extends existing HTTP methods such as GET and PUT, mainly to make them aware of the new locking features. The OPTIONS method is extended to report DAV capabilities.