Herong's Tutorial Notes on Web Service and SOAP
Dr. Herong Yang, Version 2.11

SOAP Message Exchange Patterns

Part:   1   2 

This chapter describes:

  • What are SOAP message exchange patterns?
  • What is Request-Response Message Exchange Pattern?
  • What is Response Message Exchange Pattern?
  • What is Web Method Feature?
  • What is SOAP Action Feature?

What Are SOAP Message Exchange Patterns?

SOAP Message Exchange Patterns are abstract presentations of how the SOAP framework specification can be extended to meet specific communication needs. There are 4 patterns presented in SOAP 1.2:

  • Request-Response Message Exchange Pattern
  • Response Message Exchange Pattern
  • SOAP Web Method Feature
  • SOAP Action Feature

SOAP properties that are defined for all SOAP Message Exchange Patterns:

1. Pattern Name: Used to identify the pattern. This property is named as: http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/bindingFramework/ExchangeContext /ExchangePatternName

2. Failure Reason: Used to identify the reason for the failure of this message exchange. This property is named as: http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/bindingFramework/ExchangeContext /FailureReason

3. Local Role: Used to identify the role of this local SOAP node. This property is named as: http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/bindingFramework/ExchangeContext /Role

4. State: Used to identify the state of this message exchange. This property is named as: http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/bindingFramework/ExchangeContext /State

Request-Response Message Exchange Pattern

Request-Response Message Exchange Pattern is a pattern where a request SOAP message followed by a response SOAP message are exchanged between two SOAP nodes. The pattern name is: http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/bindingFramework/ExchangeContext /ExchangePatternName = http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/mep/request-response/

Request-Response Message Exchange Pattern defines the following additional SOAP properties:

4. Outbound Message: Used to represent the outbound SOAP message from this local node point of view. This property is named as: http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/mep/OutboundMessage

5. Inbound Message: Used to represent the inbound SOAP message from this local node point of view. This property is named as: http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/mep/InboundMessage

6. Destination Node: Used to identify the remote SOAP node of the outbound message. This property is named as: http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/mep/ImmediateDestination

7. Sender Node: Used to identify the remote SOAP node of the inbound message. This property is named as: http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/mep/ImmediateSender

Request-Response Message Exchange Pattern also defines the following processing rules:

Rule 1: At the requesting SOAP node, there will be a set of SOAP properties with the fooolowing initial values: 

http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/bindingFramework/ExchangeContext
   /ExchangePatternName
   = "http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/mep/request-response/"

http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/bindingFramework/ExchangeContext
   /FailureReason
   = "None"

http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/bindingFramework/ExchangeContext
   /Role
   = "RequestingSOAPNode/"

http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/bindingFramework/ExchangeContext
   /State
   = "Init"

http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/mep/OutboundMessage
   = (the requesting message)

http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/mep/InboundMessage
   = (not defined yet)

http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/mep/ImmediateDestination
   = (the URI of the responding node)
   
http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap/mep/ImmediateSender
   = (not defined)

(Continued on next part...)

Part:   1   2 

Dr. Herong Yang, updated in 2006
Herong's Tutorial Notes on Web Service and SOAP - SOAP Message Exchange Patterns