W3C is pleased to receive the SOAP Messages with Attachments from Commerce One, Inc., Hewlett Packard Company, International Business Machines Corporation, IONA Technologies, Microsoft Corporation, Oracle Corporation and webMethods, Inc.
SOAP 1.1 messages may reference external entities such as images and text documents. This document defines a binding which allows to carry the SOAP message along with those entities with a MIME multipart/related message.
The specification describes how to use the Content-Id
and Content-Location MIME headers to dereference URI's in
the SOAP href attribute. The absolutization rules are
based on RFC2396 and
use XML Base in addition to the MIME
headers.
It also describes how to carry this multipart MIME package in an HTTP message.
W3C has chartered the XML Protocol Working Group to specify an XML-based protocol. Direct handling of binary data has been considered as a low priority for this Working Group.
Reusing a similar, MIME-based, solution could be a low-cost option for the XML Protocol Working Group. The XML Protocol Working Group will determine whether, when, or how to incorporate this submission in their work.
Disclaimer: Placing a Submission on a Working Group/Interest Group agenda does not imply endorsement by either the W3C Staff or the participants of the Working Group/Interest Group, nor does it guarantee that the Working Group/Interest Group will agree to take any specific action on a Submission.