Registers Specification (v2)

CURIE

The intention of the CURIE datatype is to provide Registers with a mechanism to link between them.

A CURIE datatype is a compact URL inspired by the CURIE Syntax 1.0 and essentially compatible with it. There are two key differences: only a subset of CURIEs are allowed and that the reference part complies with the URL specification instead of the URL/URI/IRI IETF specifications.

type Curie =
  Prefix (Maybe Reference)

The CURIE serialised as string is expressed in ABNF as:

curie = prefix ":" [reference]
prefix = lowercase *(lowercase / DIGIT / "-" / "_")
reference = path-relative-scheme-less-url-string
lowercase = %x41-5A ; a-z

Where path-relative-scheme-less-url-string is defined by https://url.spec.whatwg.org/#path-relative-scheme-less-url-string.

For example, the following CURIEs are valid:

country:
country:GB
local-authority:ABC
example:foo/bar
example:/qux

And the following are invalid:

:GB
GB
country

Expansion to URL

To expand a CURIE into a URL, you need a prefix mapping typically found in the catalogue.

The mapping base URL MUST BE be a valid Record endpoint.

expand : Curie -> Mapping -> Maybe URL

The algorithm:

  1. let curie be the CURIE to expand.

  2. let mapping be a pair (prefix, base-url).

  3. let url be null.

  4. Parse the curie into its parts: curie-prefix and reference.

  5. If curie-prefix equals prefix:

    1. Set url with the result of joining base-url with reference.

    Otherwise terminate.

For example, a successful expansion for country:GB could look like:

curie = Curie "country" (Just "GB") -- Parsed from "country:GB"
mapping = ("country", "https://country.register.gov.uk/records/")

url = expand curie mapping

url == Just "https://country.register.gov.uk/records/GB"

When the reference part of the Curie is empty the process is the same. For example, given a CURIE country:

curie = Curie "country" Nothing -- Parsed from "country:"
mapping = ("country", "https://country.register.gov.uk/records/")

url = expand curie mapping

url == Just "https://country.register.gov.uk/records/"

When the prefixes in the mapping and the CURIE don't match, the result is a failure. For example, a failed expansion for country:GB could look like:

curie = Curie "country" "GB" -- Parsed from "country:GB"
mapping = ("example", "https://example.org/")

url = expand curie mapping

url == Nothing

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