Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) is the IETF standard protocol for Web site authoring and wide area collaboration. WebDAV's document sharing and management services make it the ideal platform for Internet file and data management applications. This comprehensive book covers the WebDAV protocolfrom the bits on the wire all the way to custom application design and implementation.

Experienced WebDAV implementer Lisa Dusseault not only provides a complete description of WebDAV but also illustrates that behavior with numerous examples and protocol traces from real clients and servers. The author covers each protocol feature, first explaining how it works and then illustrating its use in a live implementation. In each case, the author describes not only how the protocol was supposed to work, but how it actually does, with attention to the steps required to make a working implementation.

This book delivers crucial details needed by application designers, software engineers, and information managers:

* Complete coverage of the protocol and popular implementations
* Practical design rules for quickly designing and deploying any WebDAV-based application
* Real-world application case studies, including online calendaring and photo albums
* Two chapters on building custom WebDAV applications, including ready-to-run examples compatible with Internet ExplorerR
* Coverage of the new Versioning and Access Control standards