HTTP Client Attributes

[Cantor, Scott]

> The dynamic plugins do NOT do this. They ask the HTTP client for a response,
> and the client internally says "here it is" or "error". There is no 304 notion.
> That's internal to the client and is never seen by the plugin so it has no
> chance to bypass any of its work.

If it helps, think of the HttpClient library as a browser, and the Dynamic plugins as a person. The person using the browser just says "I want page X" and the browser shows them its best attempt at that. Internally, it may be skipping the HTTP call entirely, or sending a conditional GET and getting a 304, or getting a fresh document, but at the end, you just see the page.

The page here is the metadata and the user is the plugin that wants the metadata and then processes it. The IdP is sort of the user also, or maybe think of it as a second user looking over the shoulder of the first one.

The analogy with the original plugins would be that they're more like a browser. They do internal stuff to limit the work they do and optimize their work much more aggressively, and then they surface the metadata out to the IdP.

This is not how it *had* to be done. Maybe it isn't how it should be done, or might be done in a future version, but that's how it works now. At least, that's my understanding of it. If I'm wrong, then Brent can correct me.

-- Scott