Overview of SOAP

Monday, December 14, 2009

• SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is communication protocol which communicates between applications using XML format over internet.
• SOAP is platform and language independent. It is based on XML.
• SOAP is simple and extensible and it allows passing around firewalls.
• A SOAP message is an ordinary XML document containing the following elements.
1. Envelope (Required) = this element identifies XML document as a SOAP message.
2. Header (Optional) = It contains header information.
3. Body (Required) = It contains call and response information.
4. Fault (Optional) = It provides information about errors that occurred while processing the message.