RE: [xml-dev] headers (was ERH on Web Services

["Don Box" <dbox@microsoft.com>]

Simon,
 
Most of the SOAP spec is dedicated to the processing model of the "mashed header/body" of a SOAP envelope. Check out part 1 of the current SOAP/1.2 spec for more details.
 
FWIW, SOAP headers were introduced back in the 1990's to allow for orthogonal extensibility over app-specific payloads. As for SOAP vs. MIME vs. HTTP headers, SOAP tries to generalize the concept of an intermediary to allow more flexibility in forming a message path.  I believe this is a non-goal for MIME and rather is left for HTTP, SMTP, etc. to invent for themselves.
 
DB
 
-----Original Message----- 
From: Simon St.Laurent [mailto:simonstl@simonstl.com] 
Sent: Sun 2/9/2003 6:55 AM 
To: xml-dev@lists.xml.org 
Cc: 
Subject: [xml-dev] headers (was ERH on Web Services



	mc@xegesis.org (Mike Champion) writes:
	>> I used to appreciate Paul Prescod's point that the significant
	>> contribution of SOAP is the extensibility XML gives header formats.
	>
	>That is exactly the major contribution of SOAP to the world. 
	
	If that's SOAP's major contribution, then it's time to pack up and go
	home.  Extensible header formats sound fine to me.  Mashing the header
	and body together in one XML document SOAP envelope style is a
	trainwreck, if one that no one's yet noticed.  I love it when my mail
	arrives with the envelope stuck to the contents.
	
	But then maybe the value of the MIME approach's separation between
	processing metadata and content is just too hard to see?  (And yes, I
	consider HTML meta elements a strange and ugly hack.)
	
	Even in a disagreement about Web Services, I guess I'm stuck disagreeing
	with the one point of agreement.  Fine way to spend a Sunday morning.
	
	
	--
	Simon St.Laurent
	Ring around the content, a pocket full of brackets
	Errors, errors, all fall down!
	http://simonstl.com -- http://monasticxml.org
	
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