Its Official: SOAP 1.2 Is a Standard

The World Wide Web Consortium releases as a formal standard Version 1.2 of the Simple Object Access Protocol, which includes more than 400 fixes to technical and editorial issues raised during an open public comment period.

The World Wide Web Consortium has released Version 1.2 of the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) as a formal standard.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based W3C released SOAP 1.2 as a full W3C Recommendation Tuesday, the organizations language for making a specification an official standard. SOAP 1.2 includes more than 400 fixes to technical and editorial issues raised during an open public comment period.

The new version of the foundational Web services technology consists of the SOAP Version 1.2 Primer, the SOAP Version 1.2 Messaging Framework, SOAP Version 1.2 Adjuncts, and the SOAP Version 1.2 Specification Assertions and Test Collection. The SOAP 1.2 specification provides a framework for XML-based messaging systems in two parts, the Messaging Framework and Adjuncts.

According to the W3C, SOAP Version 1.2 Messaging Framework provides a processing model, an extensibility framework—which enables developers to use extensions inside and outside the SOAP envelope—the message construct and the protocol binding framework. SOAP Version 1.2 Adjuncts provides a binding of SOAP and HTTP. It also features rules for representing remote procedure calls (RPCs), for encoding SOAP messages, and for describing SOAP features and SOAP bindings, W3C officials said. Meanwhile, the Specification Assertions and Test Collection provide a set of tests drawn from the assertions found in the Messaging Framework and Adjuncts.

"webMethods is dedicated to the success of the SOAP standard, as is evident by our early collaboration with Microsoft on SOAP 1.1 and our board-level work with the WS-I [Web Services Interoperability Organization]," said Andy Astor, vice president of enterprise Web services at webMethods Inc., in Fairfax, Va. webMethods was recently voted in as a member of the board of directors of the WS-I. "Were encouraged by todays announcement by the W3C—we think that support by strong standards organizations like the W3C and the WS-I reflects a maturity of the Web services standards and promises true interoperability. The result will be greater standardization and adoption of Web services."

"Enabling a services-oriented architecture [SOA] based on Web services requires a strong commitment to global standards, such as SOAP Version 1.2," said Alan Davies, vice president of standards for SeeBeyond Technology Corp., in Monrovia, Calif. "Our participation in the W3Cs XML Protocol Working Group and support for SOAP in the SeeBeyond Integrated Composite Application Network [SeeBeyond ICAN] Suite are demonstrations of our commitment to the evolution of Web services."

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