1.3.1 Identity Objects

IMDA operates on a type of resource known as an identity object. An identity object is a collection of one or more identity attributes. An example of a kind of identity object is a directory object. Like any resource that can be accessed through WS-Transfer, identity objects can be represented as XML documents.

An identity attribute is a collection of one or more identity attribute values. An identity attribute is named by an identity attribute type, which is an expression that designates an identity attribute within an identity object. The format of the expression is determined by the expression's dialect, as described in section 1.3.2. For example, if the identity object corresponds to a directory object, an identity attribute could correspond to a directory attribute of that directory object, and the LDAP display name<1> of that directory attribute could serve as the identity attribute type of the corresponding identity attribute.

The identity attribute value is represented as an XML element. An identity attribute can contain one or more identity attribute values. For example, in an identity attribute for a user's telephone numbers, each phone number could be represented as an identity attribute value.