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The SOAP protocol allows you to use XML to communicate between systems that are connected using lower-level Internet protocols. It provides a standard envelope for XML information to be transmitted through network messages, and optional conventions for the body of such messages. Understand the history of SOAP, as well as its relation to Web services, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), and Representational State Transfer (REST).
SOAP [W3C Recommendation] (which officially is no longer an acronym despite the capitalization) is a protocol for using XML to communicate between systems that are connected using lower-level Internet protocols. Many consider SOAP the foundation of XML Web services, a set of technologies for managing and organizing the interaction of systems connected using XML data formats and Internet communications protocols. SOAP was originally developed among a small, odd assortment of individuals from a diverse mix of companies, including IBM®. It quickly grew in popularity, because it provided similar capabilities to earlier efforts toward XML messaging, but with a more solid architecture and more commercial support. Development of SOAP passed to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which developed SOAP 1.2, having made a lot of architectural improvements but having also made a lot of controversial compromises. The SOAP protocol defines an XML envelope format, which can contain a pseudo-XML payload (the fact that the actual payload of a SOAP message is restricted from using the full capabilities of XML is a matter of great contention).
XML Web services are closely related to a more general concept called Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), but neither of these concepts, despite common misconception, mandate SOAP. A large group of people advocate the idea of simply exchanging raw XML documents directly over HTTP, an approach loosely advocated under the banner of Representational State Transfer (REST). REST is the name given to the architectural style of the Web by one of its architects, Roy Fielding. Advocates of REST style for Web services complain that SOAP is complex, stunts its XML payload, and doesn't take enough advantage of the fundamental strengths of the Web. SOAP advocates have worked to address these matters, by shifting emphasis from SOAP's remote procedure call (RPC) roots to what is called the document-literal style of SOAP. In the RPC style, the data to be transmitted is marshalled into discrete data types in a special XML payload format (called the SOAP encoding). In the document-literal style, the XML payload consists of more natural XML formats that generally tend to be more descriptive and human-readable.
A huge array of standards build on SOAP, but these are outside the scope of this specification. The following resources are good sources of information on these standards:
- The developerWorks SOA and Web services zone
- IBM developerWorks' Web services standards listing
- W3C Web Services Activity home page
One antecedent of SOAP that is still in fairly wide use is XML Remote Procedure Calls (XML-RPC) [community specification]. XML-RPC defines procedure calls encoded in XML and communicated over HTTP. It retains some popularity because of its simplicity (the full specification is less than 10 printed pages) and the fact that most languages and many application frameworks now have standard or readily available XML-RPC implementations. It does have some notable weaknesses, including primitive data typing and lack of support for character encodings (an astonishing flaw given its use of XML).
- For an up-to-date introduction to SOAP, see Understanding Web Services specifications, Part 1:
SOAP by Nicholas Chase (developerWorks, May 2006).
- The W3C has an official primer on SOAP,
recommended because of its focus on the XML transport format.
- Python programmers can check out The Python Web services
developer column on developerWorks.
- Follow up on document-literal style SOAP. See Reap the benefits of document style Web services by
James McCarthy (developerWorks, June 2002).
- For a good introduction to the idea and motivation
of REST, see Paul Prescod's Second
Generation Web Services (XML.com, February 2002) and REST and the Real World (XML.com, February 2002).
- Gain insight into the relationship of REST-style
and SOAP-style Web services in Resource-oriented vs. activity-oriented Web services by
James Snell (developerWorks, October 2004).
- The REST
Wiki features many links to introductory material about REST.
- Perl users who are interested in XML-RPC should
start with Using XML-RPC for Web services: Getting started with XML-RPC in
Perl and its follow-up, Using XML-RPC for Web services: XML-RPC Middleware, both by
Joe Johnston (developerWorks, March 2001).
- Python users who are interested in XML-RPC should
start with The Python Web services developer: XML-RPC for Python
by Mike Olson and Uche Ogbuji (developerWorks, September 2002).
- Eric Kidd's XML-RPC HOWTO discusses how to use the protocol in
the Java™ language, C, C++, Perl, Ruby, and .NET.
- Read about other XML standards:
Index of XML
standards.
- Participate in any of several XML-centered forums:
XML
zone discussion forums.
- Get involved in the developerWorks community: developerWorks blogs
- Find out how you can become an IBM-Certified
Developer in XML and related technologies at IBM XML
certification.
- See the developerWorks XML Zone for a wide range of
technical articles and tips, tutorials, standards, and IBM Redbooks at
XML
technical library.
- Stay current with technology in these sessions: developerWorks technical events and webcasts.
- Build your next development project with trial
software available for download directly from developerWorks: IBM trial software
