MartyConnelly
martyconnelly at shaw.ca
Sun Apr 20 15:20:30 CDT 2003
Which version of Soap? Notes from Anne Manes Short answer: SOAP 1.0 has been superseded by SOAP 1.1. SOAP 1.1 is not a formal standard, and there is no effort in place to standardize SOAP 1.1. Even so, SOAP 1.1 is the de facto standard. W3C is defining a standard XML protocol called SOAP 1.2. This effort used SOAP 1.1 as a starting point, but SOAP 1.2 is substantially different from SOAP 1.1. Long answer: SOAP 1.0 was written by Developmentor, Microsoft, and UserLand. In early 2000, they recruited IBM and Lotus to join the fun, and they jointly produced SOAP 1.1. In May 2000, this spec was submitted [2] to W3C by the authors and some of their allies (Ariba, Commerce One, Compaq, HP, IONA, and SAP). W3C subsequently published SOAP 1.1 as a W3C Note [2]. A W3C Note is not an approved standard. From the status section of the specification: "This document is a NOTE made available by the W3C for discussion only. Publication of this Note by W3C indicates no endorsement by W3C or the W3C Team, or any W3C Members. W3C has had no editorial control over the preparation of this Note. This document is a work in progress and may be updated, replaced, or rendered obsolete by other documents at any time." SOAP 1.1 is in it's final state -- it won't change. There is no effort to turn SOAP 1.1 into a formal standard. Instead, there is an effort going on to develop a new standard based on SOAP 1.1. This new standard is called SOAP 1.2. SOAP 1.2 changes the content type for SOAP messages from text/xml to application/soap+xml. In addition it adds a HTTP GET binding so that you can make HTTP GET requests, and receive SOAP messages in reply, the GET binding is obviously easy to test with a browser. Unfortunately by default Internet Explorer will prompt you to save/open the response, rather than just displaying the XML. Following a pointer from Sam Ruby, here's appsoap.reg, a reg file that changes the IE config so that it display the XML directly. W3C formed the XML Protocol Working Group [3] in September 2000 to develop a formal SOAP standard. Three years after the initial publication of SOAP 1.1, the XML Protocol Working Group is very close to releasing the final SOAP 1.2 standard. They published a Candidate Recommendation [4] in December. The final W3C Recommendation (W3C's name for a standard) should be published within the next two to three months. The SOAP Primer provides a section [5] that describes the differences between SOAP 1.1 and SOAP 1.2. (Given the differences, I think it would have been more appropriate to call the new specification SOAP 2.0, but let's not go there.) Some vendors have added preliminary implementations of SOAP 1.2 [6], but these aren't product quality yet. Now, keep in mind that the IT world hasn't been sitting around twiddling its thumbs waiting for W3C to produce a standard. There are dozens of products out there [7] that implement SOAP 1.1. So even though it has no formal status as a standard, SOAP 1.1 is the current de facto standard for Web services. Challenges exist surrounding this specification, though. There are reasons why it's a good idea to put a specification through a rigorous standardization process. SOAP 1.1 has lots of ambiguous features, and these ambiguities result in interoperability issues. That's why the vendors started WS-I -- to help clarify the SOAP 1.1 spec, and to define a set of constraints and guidelines that make interoperability easier. The vendors are now working to ensure that their products support the WS-I Basic Profile [8]. [1] http://www.w3.org/Submission/2000/05/ [2] http://www.w3.org/TR/SOAP/ [3] http://www.w3.org/2000/xp/Group/ [4] http://www.w3.org/TR/soap12-part1/ [5] http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/CR-soap12-part0-20021219/#L4697 [6] http://www.w3.org/2000/xp/Group/2/03/soap1.2implementation.html [7] http://www.soapware.org/directory/4/implementations [8] http://www.ws-i.org/Profiles/Basic/2003-03/BasicProfile-1.0-BdAD.html mwp.reid at queens-belfast.ac.uk wrote: >Dont encourage her Mark. Shes bad enough. > >(<: > >Martin > > >Quoting "Mark L. Breen" <subs at solution-providers.ie>: > > > >>Brialliant Susan, >> >> >>----- Original Message ----- >>From: "Susan Harkins" <harkins at iglou.com> >>To: <accessd at databaseadvisors.com> >>Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2003 3:21 PM >>Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: SOAP >> >> >> >> >>>Well, it's really just fat and lye Martin -- but when you're making >>> >>> >>it, >>you >> >> >>>want to be careful to pour the lye into the water/oil mixture and not >>> >>> >>the >> >> >>>other way around -- think of the water as a lake and the lye as snow >>> >>> >>-- >>you >> >> >>>sprinkle the snow onto the lake... pouring the water into a bowl of >>> >>> >>lye >> >> >>>causes too quick and severe a reaction and it's dangerous. Ya have to >>> >>> >>stir >> >> >>>until the mixture's the right consistency -- otherwise you get a >>> >>> >>really >>soft >> >> >>>bar that you can't remove from the mold and it melts in the shower. >>> >>>So, does that help? <snicker> >>> >>>Actually, I think there's a good discussion on the 2003 beta >>> >>> >>developer's >> >> >>>CD -- >>> >>>Susan H. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>>Could someone give me a quick high level technical overview of >>>> >>>> >>SOAP? >> >> >>>> >>>> >>> >>>