2.2.2 Translate Header

Many resources that are obtained from a web server are returned exactly as is. However, some resources are programmatically interpreted by the web server, and the result of that interpretation is returned instead of the source representation. For example, without a mechanism to control programmatic interpretation, a request to retrieve an Active Server Page (ASP) from the web server returns the processed HTML file rather than the actual source of the ASP page. For more information, see [MSASP].

The WebDAV Protocol: Client Extensions introduce a new Translate header so that a WebDAV client can indicate what representation it wants. This header indicates to the web server whether or not it is to perform translation, that is, programmatic interpretation, of the file.

This new header is defined as follows by using the Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF) syntax, as specified in [RFC2616] section 2.1.

 Translate-header = "Translate" ":" Translate-value
 Translate-value = "t" | "f" | "F"

If Translate-value is "t", the server is to process the content before returning it to the client; if it is "f" | "F", the server is to return the unprocessed content (that is, the source without the programmatic interpretation) to the client. The values "f" and "F" are synonymous. All other values SHOULD be ignored by the server. For more information about the processing of this header, see section 3.2.5.1.<5>

This header MUST be supported on the GET verb and MAY be supported on other verbs.<6>