why we need SOAP ?

[Former Member]

Hi,

I have gone through some articles regarding SOAP but not able to find any use of it..I surfed through web but not able to trace the actual point....my confusion is

"we can work with XML messages directly over HTTP , then why we need SOAP then ?"

awaiting for your valuable replies...

Thanks and Regards

Mahesh.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi

SOAP is mainly concerned about transporting the data in the form xml message by using http service the main advantage with the soap it containes a structure

like header,body,footer, in the header it store the reciever information and in the body http post will be kept in the body of the soap.

Reward points if useful,

Regards,

srinivas.

[former_member189387]

Hi Mahesh ,

SOAP is mainly useful for WEBServices. Nothing but a request and response .

<i> we can work with XML messages directly over HTTP , then why we need SOAP then ?"</i>

mahesh , webservices can understand only SOAP . Please refer the following blogs it might usefull for you.

/people/siva.maranani/blog/2005/09/03/invoke-webservices-using-sapxi

https://weblogs.sdn.sap.com/pub/wlg/1334 [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken]

https://weblogs.sdn.sap.com/pub/wlg/2131 [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken]

https://weblogs.sdn.sap.com/pub/wlg/1442 [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken]

/people/siva.maranani/blog/2005/03/01/testing-xi-exposed-web-services

Regards.,

V.Rangarajan

[Former Member]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply...

If we need SOAP for web services then why we are using SOAP internally in XI ? As we are not working with web services...we are just working with XML messages ?

Thanks and Regards

Mahesh

[former_member189387]

Hi Mahesh ,

<i>If we need SOAP for web services then why we are using SOAP internally in XI ? As we are not working with web services...we are just working with XML messages ?

</i>

The SAP Exchange Infrastructure message format is based on XML. Since a message in SAP XI can also have binary attachments.

<b>

XI Message Protocol</b>

<b>The XI message protocol of SAP Exchange Infrastructure is based on the W3C note SOAP Messages with Attachments (for more information, see: www.w3.org/TR/SOAP-attachments). The Integration Server expects a message that has the following structure:</b>

<b> XI Message</b>

<b>SOAP Header</b>

1.Message Header , which contains SENDER , MODE(SYN/ASYN)

<b>SOAP Body</b>

2. Paylod Main - Contains Actual Business Data

3. Payload Trace

The SOAP header of a message contains all the important information that the Integration Server requires to forward the message, while the payload contains the actual business data (such as <PurchaseOrder> in the example above). You can also append an unlimited number of attachments to the message before it is sent. Attachments typically comprise non-XML data, for example, pictures, text documents, or binary data.

The information in the message header must have the correct format for the message to be processed on the Integration Server. The payload is not touched unless a mapping needs to be executed.

Please refer the following link,

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/en/b6/0b733cb7d61952e10000000a11405a/frameset.htm

<b>

• Please Assign Points if helpful*****</b>

Best Regards .,

V.Rangarajan

[Former Member]

Hey

>>we can work with XML messages directly over HTTP , then why we need SOAP then

sure we can use HTTP but few clients are unable to understand messages sent over HTTP,they can only handle messages send over SOAP hence we need SOAP adapter.

Thanx

Ahmad