Re: Draft Q+A SOAP 1.2 and WSDL

This is great, though in my experience dealing with press contacts it's 
sometimes handy to have a shorter version ready.  How about:

Q: Can I use SOAP 1.2 without WSDL?

A: Yes, there are many interesting situations in which SOAP can be 
used without WSDL.  Indeed, early adopters of SOAP used it for 
many months before languages similar to WSDL became available.

Q. So, when do I need WSDL?
A. WSDL is used primarily as a means of documenting, in machine readable 
form, the details of particular SOAP-based protocols.  Many WSDL-enabled 
tools can use these descriptions to help you build SOAP applications. 
Without WSDL, you may have to tailor more of your code by hand.

Q. What are my options if I want to use WSDL?
A. Several options are available:
* Many WSDL toolkit vendors have interim solutions...check with them
* The SOAPBuilders development community has developed interim support for 
SOAP 1.2 using WSDL 1.1 and some degree of interoperability will be 
achievable using that [1]
* The WSDL activity under way at W3C should lead to formal support for 
SOAP 1.2 in WSDL by {end of this year/early next year}

[1] <insert URI here>


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Noah Mendelsohn                              Voice: 1-617-693-4036
IBM Corporation                                Fax: 1-617-693-8676
One Rogers Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
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Received on Friday, 13 June 2003 16:45:18 UTC