OVERVIEW OF SOAP

SOAP

SOAP carries on the XML-RPC tradition by defining an XML language for packaging arbitrary XML inside an XML envelope.

HTTP will usually be used as the transport protocol for SOAP messages.

SOAP is important for seeing how XML can be used to move information across the Web and how it fits in the grand vision of making XML-based distributed computing a reality.

SOAP Background

• The SOAP 1.0 specification was developed by Microsoft, DevelopMentor, and Dave Winer of UserLand Software and released in the spring of 1998.

• Prior to the release of SOAP 1.0, Winer released his work on RPC as the XML-RPC specification http://www.xmlrpc.com, which is very close to SOAP 1.0.

• Following the release of SOAP 1.0, IBM and Lotus joined the original developers, along with a group of partners including Ariba, Commerce One, Compaq, IONA, Intel Corp., ObjectSpace, Rogue Wave, and others.

• SOAP 1.1 was published by the W3C as a Note in May 2000. In July 2001, the W3C released the first public Working Draft for SOAP Version 1.2 based on the work of the W3C's XML Protocol Working Group

• The SOAP specification and its influences