Embedding RDF in SOAP

Embedding RDF in XHTML leads to either DTD validation problems or a proliferation of DTDs with less managed and defined semantics. Embedding RDF in SOAP, however, seems to have few tradeoffs. One example of this is the W3C Mailing List Search Tool. Another is Uche's Using RDF with SOAP issue tracking example.

The SOAP Encoding Attribute attribute identifies the data encoding rules used to serialize a header or any decendent, or any element in the body. Presumably, an agent should look for the encodingStyle and only process data encoded in a style that it specifically recognizes. The semantics of an rdf:RDF element in SOAP header or body with the env:encodingStyle http://esw.w3.org/topic/Embedding_20RDF_20in_20SOAP are defined to communicate an RDF graph asserted by the source of the message. By contast, an env:encodingStyle of http://www.w3.org/2001/12/attributions/ assert a graph that has a corresponding header indicating the chain of custody of the data in that graph.

Tradeoffs

The only obvious tradeoff is the use of tools like code stub WSDL generators which have been programmed to have an interpretation of SOAP Encoding that maps XML data structure to data structures native to a particular programming language.