WebSphere Message Brokers
File: ac00477_
Writer: Kate Hostler

Concept topic

This build: July 31, 2007 21:16:46

Web services headers

When a message is received from a Web service client or Web server, the HTTPInput or HTTPRequest node that receives that message must parse the HTTP headers to create elements in the message tree. When an HTTPReply or HTTPRequest message sends a message to a Web service client or Web server, it parses the HTTP headers from the message tree into a bit stream.

The HTTP headers in a message depend on the type of message that is processed. There are four message types recognized in a message flow, and a parser is associated with each of these.

  1. Input. An input message is received by the HTTPInput node from a Web service client. The HTTP headers in the input message (data up to and including the CRLFCRLF) are parsed by the HTTPInput parser and are included in the message tree under the correlation name HTTPInput. The headers shown in the following table are expected in an input message; others might also be present.
    Header Content Example
    Host The hostname to which the client issued the message. localhost
    Content-Length The length of the body of the input message in decimal (that follows the CRLFCRLF after the last header). 520
    Content-Type The type of the body data. text/xml; charset=utf-8
    SOAPAction   "" (empty string)
  2. Reply. A reply message is sent by the HTTPReply node to the Web service client that sent the corresponding input message. The Web service headers in the reply message are created in the message tree under the correlation name HTTPReply, which is also the name of the parser used to parse that part of the message tree to a bit stream. You can choose to create your own HTTPReply header in a Compute node, or you can configure the HTTPReply node to create it using default values, or values taken from the HTTPReply or HTTPResponse trees in the input message, or both. If the HTTPReply node creates a default HTTPReply header, it contains the Web service headers and values shown in the following table.
    Header Value
    Content-Length (if present in the input message) The calculated length of the reply message body in decimal.
    Content-Type text/xml; charset=utf-8
  3. Request. A request message is sent to a Web server by the HTTPRequest node. The HTTP headers in this message must be created in the message tree under the correlation name HTTPRequest, and are parsed by the HTTPRequest parser when the message tree is parsed to a bit stream. You can choose to create your own HTTPRequest header in a Compute node, or you can configure the HTTPRequest node to create it using default values, or values taken from the HTTPInput or HTTPRequest trees in the input message, or both. If the HTTPRequest node creates a default HTTPRequest header, it contains the Web service headers and values shown in the following table.
    Header Value
    Host Value set in the Default Web Service URL property.
    Content-Length The calculated length of the request message body in decimal.
    Content-Type text/xml; charset=utf-8
    SOAPAction "" (empty string)
  4. Response. A response message is received by the HTTPRequest node from the Web server to which the corresponding request message was sent. The HTTP headers in the response message (data up to and including the CRLFCRLF) are parsed by the HTTPResponse parser and are included in the message tree under the correlation name HTTPResponse. The header shown in the following table is expected in a response message (though not required); others might also be present.
    Header Content Example
    Content-Length The length of the response message body in decimal. 1585

Web Services example messages provides example messages that include these headers.

Related concepts
Message flows overview
Generate WSDL
Related tasks
Developing message flows
Generating a WSDL definition from a message set
Deploying
Related reference
WebSphere MQ Web Services Transport
Notices | Trademarks | Downloads | Library | Support | Feedback

Copyright IBM Corporation 1999, 2007Copyright IBM Corporation 1999, 2007. All Rights Reserved.
This build: July 31, 2007 21:16:46

ac00477_ This topic's URL is: