First page Back Continue Last page Graphics
The SOAP Header
Holds additional information
- e.g. security, transaction, message correlation, etc
Header is an extensibility mechanism
- SOAP spec does not address what goes in header
- Vendors and organizations add their own header to their messages
- Implementations are free to ignore headers they don’t understand
Profiles and Actors
Notes:
Not shown in the previous example is the SOAP header. This is an optional element that can be used to hold additional information necessary to carry out the method invocation such as security, transaction, message correlation, etc
The header is SOAP’s extensibility mechanism. The SOAP specification does not address what goes in the header. Vendors and other organizations can and do add their own headers to their messages
Since SOAP is supposed to interoperate across vendors, implementations are free to ignore headers they do not understand unless it is flagged as ‘mustUnderstand’.
Two header elements that are often used are Profiles and Actors. Profiles are a set of headers created by a vendor or organization to support their unique needs. An example of profile is the ebXML profile.
A SOAP message can be relayed through several intermediaries before reaching its final destination. Actors are headers designed to be consumed by message intermediaries, as opposed to the body which is consumed only by the ultimate recipient.