Subject: Re: [Bitcoin-development] URI Handling in Bitcoin-Qt

From: Alan Reiner <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 03 May 2012 20:54:39 -0400

On 05/03/2012 01:46 AM, Wladimir wrote:
>
> Label is a label for the destination address, message is a freeform 
> message describing the transaction.
>
> I don't think the message is currently stored in the Satoshi client. 
> That feature is somewhere on our way-too-long issue and todo list.
>
> But I understand that you want to add transaction meta-data fields 
> such as contact information, bought items, item prices?
>
>

I don't want to add fields to the URI-spec, I just want to add them /to 
the client/.  To me, it is ideal to have separate strings for labeling 
/addresses/ vs labeling /transactions/ -- i.e. different strings would 
show up in the address book (owner info) than what shows up in the 
transaction history (purchase info).   I say it's ideal because that 
concept seems to fit perfectly with availability of "label=" and 
"message=" fields in BIP 21, but it won't actually work if Bitcoin-Qt 
won't/can't do it that way.

For now, it seems that I should count on all important information being 
in the /label/ field, since users creating URLs would have to assume 
anything in the /message/ field will not be saved.  Though I imagine the 
message data will be /displayed/ after the URI is clicked, just not saved.

To expand the concept slightly further, it might make sense in the 
future for users to populate the /message/ and /label /fields with lots 
of data, using newlines.  The first line would be used as a summary and 
displayed in the address book and ledger.  The extra lines would all be 
displayed when the user opens up a details window.  All of it would be 
automatically generated by the merchant, and the purchaser would end up 
with detailed documentation on every purchase they've made for zero effort.

-Alan