WebSphere Message Brokers
File: ac34630_
Writer: Jane Brockbank Reference topic This build: July 31, 2007 21:20:24
SOAP applications
SOAP is an XML based language defined by the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) for sending data between applications. SOAP is transport and platform
neutral.
SOAP message
A SOAP message comprises an envelope
containing:
An optional header (containing one or more header blocks).
A mandatory body.
The content of the header and body is typically defined by WSDL.
SOAP style
SOAP defines two types of style:
RPC
The SOAP body corresponds to a method call.
document
The SOAP body is typically a coarser-grained XML document and is defined
explicitly by XML schema.
SOAP encodings
SOAP defines two types of encoding:
SOAP encoding
With SOAP encoding the content is defined using an encoding scheme which
implies a specific mapping to language-specific types.
literal
With literal encoding the SOAP content is defined explicitly by some schema
(generally XML Schema).
SOAP style and encoding combinations
Three of the
four possible SOAP style and encoding combinations are supported by the WSDL
importer and the WSDL generator:
RPC and SOAP encoded (supported for the WSDL importer only).
RPC and literal.
Document and literal.
SOAP versions
Two versions of SOAP are available:
SOAP 1.1
SOAP 1.2
SOAP 1.1 has some interoperability issues, mainly concerned with the
use of SOAP encoding, which are addressed by a separate standard: the WS-I
Basic Profile.
Further information
For more information about WSDL
1.1 refer to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and in particular the SOAP
1.1 and SOAP 1.2 documents at: