AEX-130: æpps Metadata Format Specification

AEX: 130
Title: æpps Meta Information Format
Author: Stoyan Vasilev (@j28), Denis Davidyuk (@davidyuk)
License: BSD-3-Clause
Discussions-To: https://forum.aeternity.com/t/aexpansion-proposal-aepps-metadata-format-specification/3987/9
Status: Draft
Type: Meta
Created: 2019-07-09

Simple Summary

The goal of this document is to specify a format for metadata which æpps provide to æpp listing services, decentralized æpp stores, æpp browsers, and wallets.

Abstract

A format which is consistenly used by developers is needed to facilitate the uniform and useful user experience of browsing aepps inside æpps browsers, wallets, and listing services.

Motivation

The motivation behind this aexpansion is to improve the user experience of browsing æpps inside æpps browsers, wallets, and listing services. Our goal is to make it easy for users to recognize the purpose of an æpp/what the æpp allows its users to do and whether users would like to open the æpp and give it access to the account data it requests.

Specification

Format

Required members

• Name of aepp

• aepp icons

• Networks the aepp is available on [mainnet, testnet]

Recommended members

• aepp description

• Category (select from predermined list)

• Author

• Author URL

• Related applications

• Age restrictions/rating

References

Reference visuals for the result of implementing such metadata format are included below.

A service listing aepps	Detail view of a aepp metadata rendered inside a aepp browser

Rationale

We are leveraging the webmanifest format and augmenting it to fit the needs of the blockchain context. The premise is that this format can be universal (used by multiple protocols, with only one field difference).

Other considerations

• Consider if aeppsmanifest format applies to both web and non-web contexts.

• This proposal does not address whether metadata provided by an aepp is accurate/truthful.

Future Considerations

• This proposal does not articulate a stance on storage concerns (as aepp metadata can be rendered dynamically or stored locally).

• This proposal does not address the concern of aepps sharing aepps data between themselves.

Implementation

Required members

name member

Documentation: https://www.w3.org/TR/appmanifest/#name-member

icons member

Documentation: https://www.w3.org/TR/appmanifest/#icons-member

aeternity_network_ids member

An array of AeternityNetworkIdType items, each item represents id of the network that aepp is compatible with. The persistence of this member means that aepp supports aeternity protocol.

AeternityNetworkIdType is a string, allowed values: ae_mainnet, ae_uat (testnet).

Recommended members

description member

Documentation: https://www.w3.org/TR/appmanifest/#description-member

category member

Documentation: https://www.w3.org/TR/appmanifest/#categories-member List of known values: https://github.com/w3c/manifest/wiki/Categories

author member

The author member is a string that represents the name of author.

author_url member

The author_url member is a string that represents the URL of the author's website.

Additional members

iarc_rating_id member

Could be used to set age restrictions/ratings. Documentation: https://www.w3.org/TR/appmanifest/#iarc_rating_id-member

Reference implementation

http://aeternity.com/aepp-base-example/webmanifest.json

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References

Web App Manifest standard: https://www.w3.org/TR/appmanifest/ Extensions Registry: https://github.com/w3c/manifest/wiki/Extensions-Registry

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Comments

MDN documentation says

PWA manifests include its name, author, icon(s), version, description, and list of all the necessary resources (among other things).

DD: I can't find a specific way to add author info except for adding it as a part of another member (for example, at the end of description member). Because of this, I am defining the author member in this document.

Copyright