A node looks like this

    <node uri="vos://...../my-file">
        <properties>
            <property uri="ivo://..../owner">dave</property>
            <property uri="ivo://..../file-size">219</property>
            <property uri="ivo://..../modifed-date">2007-02-23</property>
        </properties>
    </node>

If I request an asynch transfer on this node, I get back the URI of another node.

    <node uri="vos://...../xfer/51993">
        <properties>
            <property uri="ivo://..../owner">dave</property>
            <property uri="ivo://..../target">vos://...../my-file</property>
            <property uri="ivo://..../status">ACTIVE</property>
        </properties>
    </node>

The status node can be in a separate part of the tree, ../xfer, like /dev or /proc on a unix file system. Or, it can be in a different space just for status nodes. The [ivo://..../target] property tells you what node this transfer applies to.

A simple UI client can render this as

• Owner : dave
• Target : vos://...../my-file
• Status : ACTIVE

without having to understand what the properties actualy mean.

-- DaveMorris - 23 Feb 2007