SOAP Version 1.2 Part 2: Adjuncts

2.1.1 Edge labels

An edge label is an XML Schema Qualified Name (see [XML Schema Part2]). Two edge labels are equal if and only if both of the following are true:

1. Their local name values are the same.

2. Either of the following is true:

   1. Their namespace name values are missing.

   2. Their namespace name values are present and the same.

See 2.3 Values for uses of edge labels and position to distinguish the members of encoded values, and [XML Schema Part2] for more information about comparing XML qualified names.

2.2.1 Single and Multi reference nodes

A graph node may be single reference or multi reference. A single reference graph node has a single inbound edge. A multi reference graph node has multiple inbound edges.

3.1.1 Encoding graph edges and nodes

Each graph edge is encoded as an element information item and each element information item represents a graph edge. 3.1.3 Encoding compound values describes the relationship between edge labels and the

local name and namespace name

[local name] and [namespace name]

properties of such element information items.

The graph node at which an edge terminates is determined by examination of the serialized XML as follows:

1. If the element information item representing the edge does not have a ref attribute information item (see 3.1.5.2 ref Attribute Information Item) among its attributes then that element information item is said to represent a node in the graph and the edge terminates at that node.

   In such cases the element information item represents both a graph edge and a graph node

2. If the element information item representing the edge does have a ref attribute information item (see 3.1.5.2 ref Attribute Information Item) among its attributes, then the value of that attribute information item MUST be identical to the value of exactly one id attribute information item ( see 3.1.5.1 id Attribute Information Item) in the same envelope. In this case the edge terminates at the graph node represented by the element information item on which the id attribute information item appears. That element information item MUST be in the scope of an encodingStyle attribute with a value of "http://www.w3.org/2002/06/soap-encoding".

All nodes in the graph are encoded as described in 1 above. Additional inbound edges for multi reference graph nodes are encoded as described in 2 above.

3.1.2 Encoding simple values

The lexical value of a terminal graph node (simple value) is the sequence of Unicode characters identified by the character information item children of the element information item representing that node.

Note that certain Unicode characters cannot be represented in XML (see [XML 1.0]).

3.1.3 Encoding compound values

An outbound edge of a graph node is encoded as an element information item child of the element information item that represents the node (see 3.1.1 Encoding graph edges and nodes). Particular rules apply depending on what kind of compound value the graph node represents. These rules are as follows:

1. For a graph edge which is distinguished by label

   ("struct" or "generic")

   , the

   namespace name and local name

   [local name] and [namespace name]

   properties of the element information item together determine the value of the edge label.

2. For a graph edge which is distinguished by position:

   ("array" or "generic")

   • The ordinal position of the graph edge corresponds to the position of the element information item relative to its siblings

   • If outbound edges are distinguished only by position ("array") then the

     local name and namespace name

     The [local name] and [namespace name]

     properties of the element information item are not significant.

3. The following rules apply to the encoding of a graph node that represents an "array":

   • The element information item representing an array node MAY have among its attributes an itemType attribute information item (see 3.1.4.1 itemType Attribute Information Item).

   • The element information item representing an array node MAY have among its attributes an arraySize attribute information item (see 3.1.6 arraySize Attribute Information Item).

4. If a graph edge does not terminate in a graph node then it can either be omitted from the serialization or it can be encoded as an element information item with an xsi:nilattribute information item whose value is "true".

3.1.4 Computing the Type Name property

The type name property of a graph node is a {namespace name, local name} pair computed as follows:

1. If the element information item representing the graph node has an xsi:type attribute information item among its attributes then the type name property of the graph node is the value of the xsi:type attribute information item.

   Note:

   This attribute is of type

   QName in the namespace named "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"

   xs:QName

   (see [XML Schema Part2]); its value consists of the pair {namespace name, local name}. Neither the prefix used to construct the QName nor any information relating to any definition of the type is considered to be part of the value. The SOAP graph carries only the qualified name of the type.

2. Otherwise if the parent element information item of the element information item representing the graph node has an enc:itemType attribute information item (see 3.1.4.1 itemType Attribute Information Item) among its attributes then the type name property of the graph node is the value of the enc:itemType attribute information item

3. Otherwise the value of the type name property of the graph node is unspecified.

3.1.5 Unique identifiers

3.1.6 arraySize Attribute Information Item

The arraySize attribute information item has the following Infoset properties:

• A local name of arraySize ;

  A [local name] of arraySize .

• A namespace name of "http://www.w3.org/2002/06/soap-encoding".

  A [namespace name] of "http://www.w3.org/2002/06/soap-encoding".

• A default value of "*"

The type of the arraySize attribute information item is

arraySize in the namespace named "http://www.w3.org/2002/06/soap-encoding".

enc:arraySize.

The value of the arraySize attribute information item MUST conform to the following EBNF grammar

The array's dimensions are represented by each item in the list of sizes (unspecified size in case of the asterisk). The number of items in the list represents the number of dimensions in the array. The asterisk, if present, MUST only appear in the first position in the list.

The default value of the arraySize attribute information item is "*", that is by default arrays are considered to be of unspecified size.

4.1.1 Identification of RPC Resources

The World Wide Web identifies resources with URIs, but common programming conventions convey identification information in the arguments to procedures, or in the names of those procedures. For example, the call:

updateQuantityInStock(PartNumber="123", NewQuantity="200")

suggests that the resource to be updated is the QuantityInStock for PartNumber "123". Accordingly, when mapping to or from a programming language method or procedure call, any arguments that serve to identify resources (such as the part number above) should when practical be represented in the URI to which the SOAP message is addressed. When mapping to or from a programming language method or procedure call, the name of which identifies or qualifies the identification of a resource (such as QuantityInStock above), such naming or qualification should when practical be represented in the URI to which the SOAP message is addressed. No standard means of representation of arguments or method names is provided by this specification.

4.1.2 Distinguishing Resource Retrievals from other RPCs

The World Wide Web depends on mechanisms that optimize commonly performed information retrieval tasks. Specifically, protocols such as HTTP (see [RFC 2616]) provide a GET method which is used to perform safe retrievals, i.e. to perform retrievals that are idempotent, free of side effects, and for which security considerations do not preclude the use of cached results or URI-based resource identification.

Certain procedure or method calls represent requests for information retrieval. For example, the call:

getQuantityInStock(PartNumber="123")

might be used to retrieve the quantity established in the example above.

The following conventions can be employed to implement SOAP retrievals and other RPCs on the Web:

• The conventions described in 4.1.1 Identification of RPC Resources are used to identify the resource with a URI.

• In cases where all the arguments have been represented in the URI, no SOAP header blocks are to be transmitted, and the operation is a safe retrieval, the 6.4 Web Method Specification Feature

  feature

  and the 6.3 SOAP Response Message Exchange Pattern

  MEP is

  are

  used. Accordingly, no SOAP envelope is transmitted for the request, and the webmeth:Method property is set to "GET". The results of the retrieval are a SOAP RPC response as described in 4.2.2 RPC Response

• In cases where the operation to be performed is not a retrieval, when SOAP header

  blocks

  are to be transmitted (a digital signature, for example), or when a retrieval is not safe, the 6.4 Web Method Specification Feature

  feature

  and the 6.2 SOAP Request-Response Message Exchange Pattern

  MEP is

  are

  used. The request envelope is encoded as described in 4.2.1 RPC Invocation, and the results are as described in 4.2.2 RPC Response. The webmeth:Method property is set to "POST".

The SOAP RPC Representation does not define any other value for the webmeth:Method .

4.2.1 RPC Invocation

An RPC invocation is modeled as a struct.

where parameter access is by name or as an array where parameter access is by position.

• The invocation is represented by a single struct or array containing an outbound edge for each [in] or [in/out] parameter. The struct or array is named identically to the procedure or method name (see B. Mapping Application Defined Names to XML Names).

• The invocation is represented by a single struct containing an outbound edge for each [in] or [in/out] parameter. The struct is named identically to the procedure or method name and the conventions of B. Mapping Application Defined Names to XML Names SHOULD be used to represent method names that are not legal XML names.

• Each outbound edge either has a label corresponding to the name of the parameter (see B. Mapping Application Defined Names to XML Names) or a position corresponding to the position of the parameter.

• Each outbound edge has a label corresponding to the name of the parameter. The conventions of B. Mapping Application Defined Names to XML Names SHOULD be used to represent parameter names that are not legal XML names.

Applications MAY process invocations with missing parameters but also MAY fail to process the invocation and return a fault.

4.2.2 RPC Response

An RPC response is modeled as a struct.

where parameter access is by name or as an array where parameter access is by position.

• The response is represented by a single struct or array containing an outbound edge for the return value and each [out] or [in/out] parameter.

• The response is represented by a single struct containing an outbound edge for the return value and each [out] or [in/out] parameter.

• If the response is represented by a struct, then

  Each parameter is represented by an outbound edge with a label corresponding to the name of the parameter. The conventions of B. Mapping Application Defined Names to XML Names SHOULD be used to represent parameter names that are not legal XML names. A non-void return value is represented in the struct by an outbound edge that may be given any unique label. The XML qualified name of the label of the edge representing the return value is given by a separate outbound edge with a local name of result and the namespace name "http://www.w3.org/2002/06/soap-rpc". The result outbound edge MUST be present and hold the XML qualified name of the edge containing the return value within any struct response if the return value of the procedure is non-void. The result outbound edge MUST NOT be present if the return value of the procedure is void.

• If the response is represented by an array, each outbound edge has a label corresponding to the position of the parameter. A return value MUST be present if the return value of the procedure is non-void. If present, the return value MUST be represented as the first edge of the array with parameters following. If no return value is present, then parameters begin with the first outbound edge of the array.

• Invocation faults are handled according to the rules in 4.4 RPC Faults. If a protocol binding adds additional rules for fault expression, those MUST also be followed.

An RPC response MUST NOT contain both a result and a fault, because a result indicates success and a fault indicates failure.

4.2.3 SOAP Encoding Restriction

When using SOAP encoding (see 3. SOAP Encoding) in conjunction with the RPC convention described here, the SOAP Body MUST contain only a single child element information item, that child being the serialized RPC invocation or response struct.

or array.

I.e. when using the SOAP encoding for serializing RPC invocations and responses, the encoding is constrained to produce a single tree of element information items.

5.1.1 Properties

Under the convention, properties are represented as follows:

• Properties are named with XML qualified names (QNames). For example, myNS:RetryCount where RetryCount is the name of the property, and myNS is a prefix mapped to a namespace.

• 'Property values are typed, and the type of a property-value is defined by an XML Schema simple datatype in the specification which introduces the property.

  Where appropriate, property values SHOULD have an XML Schema type listed in the specification which introduces the property.

  For example, the type of the RetryCount property above might be xs:int

5.1.2 Property Scope

Properties within a SOAP node can differ in terms of their scope and the origins of their values. Some properties are scoped per message-exchange, while others have a wider significance. For example, the scope of a SOAP message property is per message-exchange, but the scope of a User Identity property may extend beyond the exchange of a single message. The values of some properties arise directly from the operations of the SOAP node and message exchanges, while others arise in implementation specific ways due to the local environment. As shown in the figure below, we make the distinction between per message-exchange and more widely scoped properties by assigning them to different containers called Message Exchange Context and Environment respectively. All properties, regardless of their scope, are shared by SOAP and a particular Binding.

The values of properties in Environment may depend upon local circumstances (as depicted by the external arrow from Environment in the figure above). More specifically, the properties in the example could be influenced by an Operating System User ID on whose behalf a message exchange is being executed. The mapping of information in a particular implementation to such properties is outside the scope of the binding framework although the abstract representation of such information as properties is not.

5.1.3 Properties and Features

A feature may be expressed through multiple properties and a single property may enable more than one feature. For example, the properties called User ID and Password may be used to enable a feature called Authentication. As a second example, a single property called Message ID could be used to enable one feature called Transaction and a second feature called Message Correlation.

6.2.1 SOAP Feature Name

This message exchange pattern is identified by the URI:

• "http://www.w3.org/2002/06/soap/mep/request-response/"

Protocol binding specifications may use this URI to declare their support for the MEP and its associated semantics.

6.2.2 Description

The Request-Response MEP defines a pattern for the exchange of two messages between two adjacent SOAP nodes along a SOAP message path. One message is exchanged in each direction between a requesting SOAP node and a responding SOAP node.

In the normal operation of a message exchange conforming to the Request-Response MEP, a request message is first transferred from the requesting SOAP node to the responding SOAP node. Following the successful processing of the request message by the responding SOAP node, a response message is transferred from the responding SOAP node to the requesting SOAP node.

Abnormal operation during a Request-Response message exchange might be caused by a failure to transfer the request message, a failure at the responding SOAP node to process the request message, or a failure to transfer the response message. Such failures might be silent at either or both of the requesting and responding SOAP nodes involved, or might result in the generation of a SOAP or binding-specific fault (see 6.2.4 Fault Handling). Also, during abnormal operation each SOAP node involved in the message exchange might differ in its determination of the successful completion of the message exchange.

The scope of a Request-Response MEP is limited to the exchange of a request message and a response message between one requesting and one responding SOAP node. This pattern does not mandate any correlation between multiple requests nor specific timing for multiple requests. Implementations MAY choose to support multiple ongoing requests (and associated response processing) at the same time.

6.2.3 State Machine Description

The Request-Response MEP defines a set of properties described in Table 3.

To initiate a message exchange conforming to the Request-Response MEP, the requesting SOAP node instantiates a local message exchange context. Table 4 describes how the context is initialized.

There may be other properties related to the operation of the message exchange context instance. Such properties are initialized according to their own feature specifications.

Once the message exchange context is initialized, control of the context is passed to a (conforming) local binding instance.

The diagram below shows the logical state transitions at the requesting and responding SOAP nodes during the lifetime of the message exchange. At each SOAP node, the local binding instance updates (logically) the value of the reqres:State property to reflect the current state of the message exchange. The state names are relative URIs, relative to a Base URI value carried in the reqres:Role property of the local message exchange context.

The diagram below shows the logical state transitions at the requesting and responding SOAP nodes during the lifetime of the message exchange. At each SOAP node, the local binding instance updates (logically) the value of the context:State property to reflect the current state of the message exchange. The state names are relative URIs, relative to a base URI value carried in the context:Role property of the local message exchange context.

When the local binding instance at the responding SOAP node starts to receive an inbound request message, it (logically) instantiates a message exchange context. Table 5 describes the properties that the binding initializes as part of the context's instantiation.

When the requesting and responding SOAP nodes transition between states, the local binding instance (logically) updates a number of properties. Table 6 and Table 7 describe these updates for the requesting and the responding SOAP nodes, respectively.

Bindings that implement this MEP MAY provide for streaming of SOAP responses. That is, responding SOAP nodes MAY begin transmission of a SOAP response while a SOAP request is still being received and processed. When SOAP nodes implement bindings that support streaming, the following rules apply:

• All the rules in [SOAP Part 1]Binding Framework regarding streaming of individual SOAP messages MUST be obeyed for both request and response SOAP messages.

• When using streaming SOAP bindings, requesting SOAP nodes MUST avoid deadlock by accepting and if necessary processing SOAP response information while the SOAP request is being transmitted.

  Note:

  Depending on the implementation used and the size of the messages involved, this rule MAY require that SOAP applications stream application-level response processing in parallel with request generation.

• A requesting SOAP node MAY enter the "Fail" state, and thus abort transmission of the outbound SOAP request, based on information contained in an incoming streamed SOAP response.

6.2.4 Fault Handling

During the operation of the Request-Response MEP, the participating SOAP nodes may generate SOAP faults.

If a SOAP fault is generated by the responding SOAP node while it is in the "Receiving" state, the SOAP fault is made available in reqres:OutboundMessage and the state machine transitions to the "Receiving+Sending" state.

This MEP makes no claims about the disposition or handling of SOAP faults generated by the requesting SOAP node during any processing of the response message that follows the "Success" state in the requesting SOAP node's state transition table (see Table 6).

6.3.1 SOAP Feature Name

This message exchange pattern is identified by the URI:

• "http://www.w3.org/2002/06/soap/mep/soap-response/"

Protocol binding specifications may use this URI to declare their support for the MEP and its associated semantics.

6.3.2 Description

The SOAP Response MEP defines a pattern for the exchange of a non-SOAP message acting as a request followed by a SOAP message acting as a response. In the absence of errors or faults, this message exchange pattern consists of two messages, only one of which is a SOAP envelope:

• A request transmitted in a binding-specific manner that does not include a SOAP envelope and hence does not involve any SOAP processing by the receiving SOAP node.

• A response message which contains a SOAP envelope. The MEP is completed by the processing of the SOAP envelope following the rules of the SOAP processing model (see [SOAP Part 1], section SOAP Processing Model).

Abnormal operation during a SOAP Response message exchange might be caused by a failure to transfer the request message or the response message. Such failures might be silent at either or both of the requesting and responding SOAP nodes involved, or might result in the generation of a SOAP or binding-specific fault (see section 6.3.4 Fault Handling). Also, during abnormal operation each SOAP node involved in the message exchange might differ in its determination of the successful completion of the message exchange.

The scope of a SOAP Response MEP is limited to the request for an exchange of a response message between one requesting and one responding SOAP node. This pattern does not mandate any correlation between multiple requests nor specific timing for multiple requests. Implementations MAY choose to support multiple ongoing requests (and associated response processing) at the same time.

6.3.3 State Machine Description

The SOAP Response MEP defines a set of properties described in Table 8.

To initiate a message exchange conforming to the SOAP Response MEP, the requesting SOAP node instantiates a local message exchange context. Table 9 describes how the context is initialized.

There may be other properties related to the operation of the message exchange context instance. Such properties are initialized according to their own feature specifications.

Once the message exchange context is initialized, control of the context is passed to a (conforming) local binding instance.

The diagram below shows the logical state transitions at the requesting and responding SOAP nodes during the lifetime of the message exchange. At each SOAP node, the local binding instance updates (logically) the value of the context:State property to reflect the current state of the message exchange. The state names are relative URIs, relative to a Base URI value carried in the context:Role property of the local message exchange context.

When the local binding instance at the responding SOAP node starts to receive an inbound request message, it (logically) instantiates a message exchange context. Table 10 describes the properties that the binding initializes as part of the context's instantiation.

When the requesting and responding SOAP nodes transition between states, the local binding instance (logically) updates a number of properties. Table 11 and Table 12 describe these updates for the requesting and the responding SOAP nodes, respectively.

6.3.4 Fault Handling

During the operation of the SOAP Response MEP, the participating SOAP nodes may generate SOAP faults.

This MEP makes no claims about the disposition of SOAP faults generated by the responding SOAP node.

A responding SOAP node MAY express fault information as a result of processing the request in the form of a SOAP fault. This can for example be used to express information that might be useful to a receiving SOAP node.

If a SOAP fault is generated by the responding SOAP node while it is in the "Receiving" state, the SOAP fault is made available in reqres:OutboundMessage and the state machine transitions to the "Sending" state.

This MEP makes no claims about the disposition or handling of SOAP faults generated by the requesting SOAP node during any processing of the response message that follows the "Success" state in the requesting SOAP node's state transition table (see Table 11).

6.4.1 SOAP Feature Name

This Web Method Specification Feature is identified by the URI:

• "http://www.w3.org/2002/06/soap/features/web-method/"

Protocol binding specifications may use this URI to declare their support for the this feature and its associated semantics.

6.4.2 Description

Underlying protocols designed for use on the World Wide Web provide for manipulation of resources using a small set of Web methods such as GET, PUT, POST, and DELETE. These methods are formally defined in the HTTP specification [RFC 2616], but other underlying protocols might also support them. Bindings to HTTP or such other protocols SHOULD use the Web Method Specification Feature to give applications control over the Web methods to be used when sending a SOAP message.

Bindings supporting this feature SHOULD use the appropriate embodiment of that method if provided by the underlying protocol; for example, the HTTP binding provided with this specification represents the "GET" Web method as an HTTP GET request, and the "POST" method as an HTTP POST request (see 7. SOAP HTTP Binding). Bindings supporting this feature SHOULD provide to the receiving node indication of the Web method used for transmission.

The SOAP Web Method Specification Feature MAY be implemented by bindings to underlying transports that have no preferred embodiment of particular Web methods (e.g. do not distinguish GET from POST). Such bindings SHOULD provide to the receiving node indication of the Web method used for transmission, but need take no other action in support of the feature.

6.4.3 Web Method Feature State Machine

The Web Method Feature defines a single property, which is described in Table 13.

This specification provides for the use of the Web Method Feature in conjunction with the 6.2 SOAP Request-Response Message Exchange Pattern and 6.3 SOAP Response Message Exchange Pattern message exchange patterns. This feature MAY be used with other MEPs if and only if provided for in the specifications of those MEPs.

A node sending a request message MUST provide a value for the webmeth:Method property. A protocol binding supporting this feature SHOULD set the value of the webmeth:Method property at the receiving node to match that provided by the sender; the means of transmission for the method property is binding-specific.

A responding node SHOULD respond in a manner consistent with the Web method requested (e.g. a "GET" should result in retrieval of a representation of the identified resource) or SHOULD fault in an application-specific manner if the Web method cannot be supported.

Applications SHOULD use "GET" as the value of webmeth:Method in conjunction with the 6.3 SOAP Response Message Exchange Pattern to support information retrievals which are safe, and for which no parameters other than a URI are required; i.e. when performing retrievals which are idempotent, known to be free of side effects, for which no SOAP request headers are required, and for which security considerations do not conflict with the possibility that cached results would be used. Except in unusual circumstances, other operations SHOULD be performed using "POST" in conjunction with the 6.2 SOAP Request-Response Message Exchange Pattern. Other methods SHOULD not in general be used. For example, use of "PUT" would suggest storing the SOAP envelope Infoset as the created resource, as opposed to processing in the manner required by the SOAP processing model (see [SOAP Part 1], section SOAP Processing Model.

Bindings implementing this feature MUST employee a Message Exchange Pattern with semantics that are compatible with the web method selected. For example, the SOAP Response Message Exchange Pattern (see 6.3 SOAP Response Message Exchange Pattern) is compatible with GET.

7.1.1 Optionality

The SOAP HTTP Binding is optional and SOAP nodes are NOT required to implement it. A SOAP node that correctly and completely implements the SOAP HTTP Binding may to be said to "conform to the SOAP 1.2 HTTP Binding."

The SOAP version 1.2 specification does not preclude development of other bindings to HTTP or bindings to other protocols, but communication with nodes using such other bindings is not a goal. Note that other bindings of SOAP to HTTP MAY be written to provide support for SOAP Message exchange patterns other than 6.2 SOAP Request-Response Message Exchange Pattern or the 6.3 SOAP Response Message Exchange Pattern. Such alternate bindings MAY therefore make use of HTTP features and status codes not required for this binding. For example, another binding might provide for a 202 or 204 HTTP response status to be returned in response to an HTTP POST or PUT (e.g. a one-way "push" MEP with confirmation).

7.1.2 Use of HTTP

The SOAP HTTP binding defines a base URI according to the rules in HTTP/1.1[RFC 2616]. I.e. the base URI is the HTTP Request-URI or the value of the HTTP Content-Location header field.

This binding of SOAP to HTTP is intended to make appropriate use of HTTP as an application protocol. For example, successful responses are sent with status code 200, and failures are indicated as 4XX or 5XX. This binding is not intended to fully exploit the features of HTTP, but rather to use HTTP specifically for the purpose of communicating with other SOAP nodes implementing the same binding. Therefore, this HTTP binding for SOAP does not specify the use and/or meaning of all possible HTTP methods, header fields and status responses. It specifies only those which are pertinent to the 6.2 SOAP Request-Response Message Exchange Pattern or the 6.3 SOAP Response Message Exchange Pattern, or which are likely to be introduced by HTTP mechanisms (such as proxies) acting between the SOAP nodes.

Certain optional features provided by this binding depend on capabilities provided by HTTP/1.1, for example content negotiation. Implementations SHOULD thus use HTTP/1.1 [RFC 2616] (or later compatible versions that share the same major version number). Implementations MAY also be deployed using HTTP/1.0, although in this case certain optional binding features may not be provided.

7.1.3 Interoperability with non-SOAP HTTP Implementations

Particularly when used with the 6.3 SOAP Response Message Exchange Pattern, the HTTP messages produced by this binding are likely to be indistinguishable from those produced by non-SOAP implementations performing similar operations. Accordingly, some degree of interoperation can be made possible between SOAP nodes and other HTTP implementations when using this binding. For example, a conventional Web server (i.e. one not written specifically to conform to this specification) might be used to respond to SOAP-initiated HTTP GET's with representations of Content-Type "application/soap+xml". Such interoperation is not a normative feature of this specification.

7.1.4 HTTP Media-Type

Conforming implementations of this binding:

1. MUST be capable of sending and receiving messages serialized using media type "application/soap+xml" whose proper use and parameters are described in

   [SOAP MediaType]

   A. The application/soap+xml Media Type

   .

2. MAY send requests and responses using other media types providing that such media types provide for at least the transfer of SOAP XML Infoset.

3. MAY, when sending requests, provide an HTTP Accept header field. This header

   field

   :

   • SHOULD indicate an ability to accept at minimum "application/soap+xml".

   • MAY additionally indicate willingness to accept other media types that satisfy 2 above.

7.5.1 Behavior of Requesting SOAP Node

The overall flow of the behavior of a requesting SOAP node follows a state machine description consistent with either 6.2 SOAP Request-Response Message Exchange Pattern or 6.3 SOAP Response Message Exchange Pattern (differences are indicated as necessary.) This binding supports streaming and, as a result, requesting SOAP nodes MUST avoid deadlock by accepting and if necessary processing SOAP response information while the SOAP request is being transmitted (see 6.2.3 State Machine Description). The following subsections describe each state in detail.

7.5.2 Behavior of Responding SOAP Node

The overall flow of the behavior of a responding SOAP node follows a state machine description consistent with either 6.2 SOAP Request-Response Message Exchange Pattern or 6.3 SOAP Response Message Exchange Pattern (differences are indicated as necessary). The following subsections describe each state in detail.