1.3.1 Site Structure

 This protocol supports indexing services or similar client applications that follow the site indexing process described in the diagram in section 1.3.2 to traverse a site where the content conforms to the site structure described in the following diagram.

The site structure described in the following diagram is specified in detail in section 3.1.1. The indexing process described in the diagram in section 1.3.2 is specified in detail in section 3.1.4.

This protocol requires the site to present content in a hierarchical structure as follows.

 Web application
    content database
       site collection
          site
             subsite
                list
                    list item elements

This is described in the following diagram. It requires the protocol server to keep track of details about common types of content such as pages, lists, list items, documents, and document libraries. The protocol server also tracks changes to content elements.

Figure 1: Hierarchical structure of a site

The indexing service or any other client uses the Site Data Web Service Protocol methods to traverse the site structure, explore fields of list items, or retrieve the document library items, or list item attachments.