SOAP

SOAP is an RPC protocol allowing transmission of messages (expressed in XML) between a client and server over a transport (usually HTTP). Work began in 1999.

Key characteristics

1. Extensibility of the protocol through namespaced tags.
2. Neutrality of the underlying transport allows different use cases.
3. Independence of language or platform allows services to be written in the most appropriate language.

Concepts

• WSDL describes the format of messages.
• Senders send Messages to Receivers.
• Receivers receive Messages from Senders.
• Messages are passed between Senders and Receivers.
  • Envelope element identifies the root of a SOAP message.
  • Headers don't use HTTP headers; both request and response.
  • Body element contains the data or Fault information.
• Extensions
• Service Provider
• Service Requester
• WSDL schema
• Types define rules around values in messages:
  • Scalar types:
    • string
    • boolean
    • float
    • double
    • decimal
    • binary
    • integer
    • nonPositiveInteger
    • negativeInteger
    • nonNegativeInteger
    • long
    • int
    • short
    • byte
    • unsignedLong
    • unsignedInt
    • unsignedShort
    • positiveInteger
    • date
    • time
  • Compound types:
    • array
    • struct
  • Complex types are entities that combine the above types.
  • Literal XML encodingStyle forgoes SOAP encoding, deferring schema to the XML schema.

WSDL

WSDL is a machine-processable specification of a web service's interface used to generate stub implementations of clients and servers. It defines the message types and their component parts.

Binding styles

• document is geared toward returning representations of entities.
• rpc is geared toward performing operations.

Exchange patterns

Messages can be exchanged through a number of patterns:

• One-way messaging allows a Sender to Message a Receiver without a response.
• Request/response messaging follows the traditional Sender Messages a Receiver, and the Receiver returns a response to the Sender.
• Notification messaging allows an asynchronous design where a Receiver sends a Message to a Sender.
• Solicit/response messages enable a Receiver to solicit a Message from a Sender by initiating a flow with a Message, reversing the request/response flow.

Abstract part

The abstract portion defines concepts, avoiding implementation detail.

• wsdl:definition lists XML namespaces (xmlns:example) used to identify sources of schema objects.
  • wsdl:types declares types used in messages.
    • xs:element defines named elements.
      • xs:complexType
  • wsdl:message declares request/response/error messages.
    • wsdl:part descries a partial section of a message.
  • wsdl:portType declare "ports" into the application from the outside, and can be bound to transports iun the concrete section.
    • wsdl:operation outlines a mode of operation for a service, outlined by the presence and order of input, output and fault sections:
      • wsdl:input defines an inbound request Message.
      • wsdl:output defines an outbound response Message.
      • wsdl:fault defines an outbound error Message.

Concrete part

The concrete part assigns transports to port types.

• wsdl:binding defines name and type pairs that reference ports for binding.
• soap:binding bind WSDL bindings to transports with a style and transport.

Common transports:

• HTTP, using POST with a SOAPAction header.
• SMTP, using Message-Id and In-reply-to headers for message correlation.

Extensions

Extensions define reusable implementations of behaviours that span services. They're usually implemented by middleware on the client and server side that is not tied to individual services.

WS-Security

Defines signing and encryption of SOAP messages to assure integrity and confidentiality respectively, and allows attachment of security tokens to identify Senders.

WS-Federation

Allows brokering security realms from products like ADFS and SAML IdPs.

WS-Addressing

Declares a standardised way of attaching message routing data with SOAP headers.

WS-ReliableMessaging

WS-ReliableMessaging defines a protocol allowing for reliable delivery of SOAP messages between distributed systems in spite of failures in the network between them.

An Application Source sends a Message to a Reliable Messaging Source which transmits it to a Reliable Messaging Destination, which acknowledges receipt and transmits the Message to an Application Destination.

WS-RM defines a number of delivery assurances:

• AtLeastOnce, but maybe more than once.
• AtMostOnce, but may go undelivered.
• ExactlyOnce with no duplicates and missed deliveries without errors in the RMS or RMD.
• InOrder guarantees ordered delivery in addition to of any of the above assurances.

WS-Transaction

A specification providing coordination types used in the WS-Coordination specification:

• Atomic Transactions cover individual operations.
• Business Activities cover longer-running operations.

WS-Coordination

Provides coordination of distributed operations across systems.

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Backlinks

• SOA (public)