Media Type "text/csv": new draft (-02) and Last Call

[Bruce Lilly]

On Wed March 23 2005 09:18, Yakov Shafranovich wrote:

> Hmm... I do think that probably every single spreadsheet program I have 
> seen uses the optional header format so it is pretty common. Since I am 
> trying to document a common format to go along with the MIME type, 
> something that common deserves to be documented. As for more complex 
> cases of headers, as you have said those can be easily accomodated 
> within the basic format while omitting the initial header line used by 
> spreadsheets.

How does a processor of the MIME type determine whether or not
an optional header is in the media?

Making the header mandatory would obviate the question (generators
can supply a line with all null fields).

A parameter indicating presence or absence of a header line (and
possibly other format variations) could be defined. If optional,
defaults would have to be specified in case the parameter is not
specified.