[Xmlrpc-developers] dots in XML-RPC method names

[Doug O. <do...@pl...>]

As far as I can tell, the XML-RPC spec does not require that a method
name (i.e. the contents of a <methodName> element) have a dot in it.
However, the marquee.xmlrpc.XmlRpcDispatcher class requires this,
returning an error "Invalid method name format" if the requested
method name doesn't contain a dot.  (This is only for the server side;
marquee.xmlrpc.XmlRpcClient allows any arbitrary string).  

Was it an intentional design decision to be more restrictive than the
XML-RPC spec?  The "service.method" naming convention seems to be
widespread, but is this actually specified anywhere as a convention
that XML-RPC implementations ought to enforce?  Or was this just an
oversight in the implementation of the Marquee library?  If so, is it
something you're planning to fix, or has nobody noticed it before?

I'm asking because the project I'm working on already chose an RPC
protocol that involved plain method names (without dots), and I'd
have to modify the Marquee library to allow it, but I'm wondering if
instead I should convince the others on the project to change the
protocol to switch to the "service.method" naming convention.
If this convention is more than just a de facto standard, they might
be more willing to switch.

Thanks,
--Doug Orleans
do...@pl...