WebSphere Message Brokers
File: ac55810_
Writer: Michael Gibson

Concept topic

This build: July 31, 2007 21:21:15

The SOAP fault

The SOAP <Fault> is a sub-element of the SOAP body, which is used for reporting errors.

If present, the SOAP <Fault> element must appear as a body entry and must not appear more than once within a body element. The sub-elements of the SOAP <Fault> element are different in SOAP 1.1 and SOAP 1.2.

SOAP 1.1

In SOAP 1.1, the SOAP <Fault> element contains the following sub-elements:
<faultcode>
The<faultcode> element is a mandatory element within the <Fault> element. It provides information about the fault in a form that can be processed by software. SOAP defines a small set of SOAP fault codes covering basic SOAP faults, and this set can be extended by applications.
<faultstring>
The <faultstring> element is a mandatory element within the <Fault> element. It provides information about the fault in a form intended for a human reader.
<faultactor>
The <faultactor> element contains the URI of the SOAP node that generated the fault. A SOAP node that is not the ultimate SOAP receiver must include the <faultactor> element when it creates a fault; an ultimate SOAP receiver is not obliged to include this element, but might do so.
<detail>
The <detail> element carries application-specific error information related to the <Body> element. It must be present if the contents of the <Body> element were not successfully processed. The <detail> element must not be used to carry information about error information belonging to header entries. Detailed error information belonging to header entries must be carried within header entries.

SOAP 1.2

In SOAP 1.2, the SOAP <Fault> element contains the following sub-elements:
<Code>
The <Code> element is a mandatory element within the <Fault> element. It provides information about the fault in a form that can be processed by software. It contains a <Value> element and an optional <Subcode> element.
<Reason>
The <Reason> element is a mandatory element within the <Fault> element. It provides information about the fault in a form intended for a human reader. The <Reason> element contains one or more <Text> elements, each of which contains information about the fault in a different language.
<Node>
The <Node> element contains the URI of the SOAP node that generated the fault. A SOAP node that is not the ultimate SOAP receiver must include the <Node> element when it creates a fault; an ultimate SOAP receiver is not obliged to include this element, but might do so.
<Role>
The <Role> element contains a URI that identifies the role the node was operating in at the point the fault occurred.
<Detail>
The <Detail> element is an optional element, which contains application-specific error information related to the SOAP fault codes describing the fault. The presence of the <Detail> element has no significance as to which parts of the faulty SOAP message were processed.
Related concepts
The SOAP header
The SOAP body
SOAP nodes
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This build: July 31, 2007 21:21:15

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