Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) is a set of methods based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that facilitates collaboration between users in editing and managing documents and files stored on World Wide Web servers. WebDAV was defined in RFC 4918 by a working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

The WebDAV protocol makes the Web a readable and writable medium, in line with Tim Berners-Lee‘s original vision.^[1] It provides a framework for users to create, change and move documents on a server (typically a web server or “web share”). The most important features of the WebDAV protocol include:

• locking (“overwrite prevention”)
• properties (creation, removal, and querying of information about author, modified date et cetera);
• name space management (ability to copy and move Web pages within a server’s namespace)
• collections (creation, removal, and listing of resources)

As of 2009^[update] many modern operating systems provide built-in support for WebDAV.

Reference:

http://book.csdn.net/bookfiles/674/10067421399.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebDAV