SOAPBy Justin Thompson

What is SOAP?Originally stood for Simple Object Access

ProtocolCreated by vendors from Microsoft, Lotus,

IBM, and othersProtocol for exchanging XML-based

messages over computer networksLets you activate applications or objects

within an application across the InternetForms the foundation layer web services

stack

Transport MethodsUses application layer protocols as transport

protocols such as SMTP and HTTPXML was chosen as the standard message

format because of its widespread use by major corporations and open source development efforts

Some applications of SOAPBusiness to business integration

Distributed applicationsTo enable XML web services

AdvantagesWith HTTP it allows for easier

communication behind proxies and firewalls than previous remote execution technology

Versatile enough to use different transport protocols. Standard is HTTP, but others are usable, such as SMTP

SOAP can be considered to be XML and HTTP combined to send messages over the Internet

It is not constrained by the application language or the platform

DisadvantagesSOAP can be slower than competing

middleware because of XML’s verbose formatWhen relying on HTTP the role of the

interacting parties are fixedMany implementations of SOAP limit the

amount of data that can be sent