Java Reference
In-Depth Information
SAAJ has many more capabilities that you can use to work with SOAP messages. For more
information on this topic, see the references at the end of this chapter.
SOAP messages can be structured in two ways: document and RPC styles. At first, only
RPC style was supported. For the RPC model, the SOAP body defines a specific method with
associated parameters that the client can invoke. Thus, the message exchange between client
and server can be restricted. Method calls are tied directly with the in and out parameters.
Unlike the RPC style, however, the document style enables the client and server to
exchange messages in whatever formats they choose. The SOAP body contains messages
that do not follow any SOAP formatting rules. The body can be validated against a schema.
2.4 Summary
SOAP is the foundation of Web Services. SOAP remains a dominant message exchange
protocol used for B2B integration. Note that no security concern is deliberately mentioned
in SOAP. SOAP is mainly about exchanging messages between two systems. It promotes
loose-coupling computation. Security and other capabilities are left out to avoid complexity
in the protocol.
In the next chapter, we will discuss how Web Services use SOAP as a transport protocol to
promote the service-oriented paradigm.
2.5
References
Additional information can be found in the following documents, which are available
online: Albrecht, C.C. (2004). “How clean is the future of SOAP?” Commun. ACM
47
(2):
66-68.
SOAP Version 1.2 Part 0: Primer (Second Edition), Retrieved August 27, 2007
from:
