Verifying content of resources in markup language documents

A computer program product comprising a computer readable hardware storage device having computer readable program code stored therein, wherein the computer readable program code upon being executed by a processor of a first computer implements a method for verifying resource content, said method comprising:

• said processor computing a first characteristic of the content of a resource stored at a second computer coupled to the first computer via a communication infrastructure;
• said processor creating, in a markup language document, a markup element comprising the computed first characteristic;
• said processor extracting the first characteristic from the markup element in the markup language document;
• said processor retrieving the resource from the second computer according to a resource indicator that references the resource;
• said processor generating a second characteristic of the content of the retrieved resource, wherein said generating the second characteristic comprises computing a hash of the content of the retrieved resource according to a particular hash algorithm;
• and
• said processor ascertaining that the second characteristic is identical to the first characteristic,
• wherein said creating the markup element comprises:
• including the resource indicator in the markup element;
• computing the first characteristic by computing, according to the particular hash algorithm, a hash of the content of the resource referenced by the resource indicator;
• and
• including the first characteristic in the markup element,
• wherein said creating the markup element results in the markup element comprising a first attribute-value pair and a second attribute-value pair,
• wherein the first attribute-value pair and the second attribute-value pair are within distinct non-overlapping portions of the markup element,
• wherein the first attribute-value pair comprises both a first attribute denoting the resource indicator and a value pertaining to the first attribute, said value pertaining to the first attribute consisting of a first character string that consists of the resource indicator,
• wherein the second attribute-value pair comprises both a second attribute denoting the first characteristic and a value pertaining to the second attribute, said value pertaining to the second attribute consisting of a second character string that comprises an identifier of the particular hash algorithm and the generated first characteristic, and
• wherein the first attribute and the second attribute are different attributes.

A system comprising a first computer, said first computer comprising a processor and a computer readable memory unit coupled to the processor, said memory unit containing program code which upon being executed by the processor implements a method for verifying resource content, said method comprising:

• said processor computing a first characteristic of the content of a resource stored at a second computer coupled to the first computer via a communication infrastructure;
• said processor creating, in a markup language document, a markup element comprising the computed first characteristic;
• said processor extracting the first characteristic from the markup element in the markup language document;
• said processor retrieving the resource from the second computer according to a resource indicator that references the resource;
• said processor generating a second characteristic of the content of the retrieved resource, wherein said generating the second characteristic comprises computing a hash of the content of the retrieved resource according to a particular hash algorithm;
• and
• said processor ascertaining that the second characteristic is identical to the first characteristic,
• wherein said creating the markup element comprises:
• including the resource indicator in the markup element;
• computing the first characteristic by computing, according to the particular hash algorithm, a hash of the content of the resource referenced by the resource indicator;
• and
• including the first characteristic in the markup element,
• wherein said creating the markup element results in the markup element comprising a first attribute-value pair and a second attribute-value pair,
• wherein the first attribute-value pair and the second attribute-value pair are within distinct non-overlapping portions of the markup element,
• wherein the first attribute-value pair comprises both a first attribute denoting the resource indicator and a value pertaining to the first attribute, said value pertaining to the first attribute consisting of a first character string that consists of the resource indicator,
• wherein the second attribute-value pair comprises both a second attribute denoting the first characteristic and a value pertaining to the second attribute, said value pertaining to the second attribute consisting of a second character string that comprises an identifier of the particular hash algorithm and the generated first characteristic, and
• wherein the first attribute and the second attribute are different attributes.