RE: What is a SOAP Message

At 02:00 PM 2/12/2003 -0800, David Orchard wrote:

>Interesting.  I think we might have a disagreement about the scope of
>representations.  I assert that in ALL cases of messages using the HTTP
>binding, a representation is transferred.  Not just for the WebMethod

As I understand "representation" in the web context, the phrase
"a representation is transferred" weakens the critical meaning of
representation as an instantiation of a resource.

>feature wrt SOAP.  In the case of a "non-RESTful" SOAP usage, such as the
>classic getStockQuote inside a POST, there is still a representation being
>transferred.  This is exactly similar to an HTML POST of a form, where a
>representation of a form is transferred, and then a representation is
>returned.  So REST isn't limited to just WebMethod IMO.
>
>I further assert that whenever URIs are used, representations are
>transferred.  HTTP is indeed designed to be extremely friendly to REST
>transfers, but representation transfer isn't limited to HTTP.  For example,
>ftp transfers lack the ability to add the representation and message
>metadata that HTTP supports using HTTP headers.  But it is still a
>representation transfer.

In my opinion FTP does not and cannot transfer representations.
That is why they call it the **FILE** transfer protocol.  It does not
transfer representations of resources.  It transfers files.  Its intent is
quite different from HTTP and this difference is exactly why
"representation" was invented.


>My point is that there is a distinction between transferring
>Representations, and following the REST constraints.  I know that might seem
>a little strange.  But the case of the HTML POST is what really cleared
>things up for me.  The POST result isn't "on the web" because you can't
>"GET" it, but so what?  It's still a web page, and representations are
>transferred.  Just because the resource isn't "on the web", doesn't break
>the idea that representations are transferred between resources.

As I understand them, representations are returned by servers. Web resources
cannot transfer or be transferred so I don't know what the phrase
"representations are transferred between resources" could mean.


>Now I must admit I haven't thought through the notion of representations
>over TCP or UDP.  I guess if they don't have URIs, then they wouldn't be
>about representations....  I'll have to ponder that.  That might be an
>interesting boundary condition.

Representations do not have URIs over HTTP either.  Representations are
not a concept that apply at the socket level so you can't find any boundary
there.

The closest analog for the representation/resource pair that I know is the
OOP concept of implementation/interface.  Trying OOP on every single
application design is ok, but it won't always be the most appropriate
approach.

As far as I can see a SOAP message need not represent any resource
and it rarely would be one of many alternative representations for a
resource.  The connection of SOAP to Web is just the use of similar
technology (XML, HTTP, and URIs).  Its just a different thing.



>Cheers,
>Dave
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Noah Mendelsohn/Cambridge/IBM
> > [mailto:noah_mendelsohn@us.ibm.com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 1:44 PM
> > To: David Orchard
> > Cc: 'Mark Baker'; xml-dist-app@w3.org
> > Subject: RE: What is a SOAP Message
> >
> >
> > I'm not so sure I see SOAP as being always REST and representations.
> > Certainly we have gone a long way to make it possible to use
> > SOAP in that
> > manner, and I believe that such usage should be encouraged wherever
> > practical.  Still, I believe that use of REST is optional, as
> > is use of
> > HTTP.  I think I'm correct in saying that the term
> > "representation" is
> > best used in the context of REST.
> >
> > Consider a binding of SOAP to some transport such as MQ series.  That
> > binding may support the WebMethod feature, and hence
> > operations such as
> > GET and POST, but it need not.    I don't see anything in SOAP that
> > requires all such uses to map to representations, or even to naming
> > destinations with URIs (though that is encouraged with a SHOULD, as I
> > recall...I'm disconnected at the moment and can't easily
> > check the text.)
> >
> > SOAP can be used for many levels of messaging.  It could be used as a
> > structured replacement for or enhancement to UDP, for
> > example.  Of course,
> > at some trivial level one can map every conceivable message
> > to something
> > like REST.  After all, maybe even an individual IP packet can
> > be viewed as
> > updating the state of some resource at its destination, but we don't
> > conventionally view IP or UDP that way.
> >
> > So, I think that terms like "representation" are best used in the
> > specific, admittedly common case where SOAP is used with a
> > binding that
> > supports the WebMethod feature, and hence REST semantics.   I
> > don't see
> > how every SOAP message is by definition carrying a representation of
> > something.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Noah Mendelsohn                              Voice: 1-617-693-4036
> > IBM Corporation                                Fax: 1-617-693-8676
> > One Rogers Street
> > Cambridge, MA 02142
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > "David Orchard" <dorchard@bea.com>
> > Sent by: xml-dist-app-request@w3.org
> > 02/10/2003 01:11 PM
> >
> >
> >         To:     "'Mark Baker'" <distobj@acm.org>
> >         cc:     <xml-dist-app@w3.org>, (bcc: Noah
> > Mendelsohn/Cambridge/IBM)
> >         Subject:        RE: What is a SOAP Message
> >
> >
> >
> > I believe that your counter example is still a representation.  It's
> > simply
> > a representation of a request. Same way that form data
> > encoded into a POST
> > is a representation of the form.
> >
> > In my mind, the web is about exchanging messages.  In those
> > messages are
> > representations and message metadata - and that
> > representations consist of
> > representation data and metadata.  In typical web usage, the message
> > metadata and representation metadata are HTTP Headers.
> >
> > Even RPC-style SOAP messages are representations (the
> > allegedly "bad" SOAP
> > POST examples).  Therefore there is a direct and easily describable
> > relationship between SOAP and the Web.  Something like:
> > - SOAP Messages are Web Messages, with content-type soap+xml
> > and related
> > processing model.  Separately, this is an additional
> > constraint upon the
> > web
> > architecture.  Probably some motivation about what properties
> > are achieved
> > by this would be helpful in the ws-arch document.
> > - SOAP Messages contain representations.  Where I get a
> > little fuzzy is
> > the
> > relationship of the envelope to the representation.  It seems
> > to me that a
> > SOAP representation is an envelope + some stuff outside the envelope.
> > Indeed the content-type defines more than just the envelope.
> >
> > The point being, the SOAP architecture fits very well into the web
> > architecture, once one clearly defines the relationship between these
> > terms.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Dave
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: xml-dist-app-request@w3.org
> > > [mailto:xml-dist-app-request@w3.org]On
> > > Behalf Of Mark Baker
> > > Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 8:39 PM
> > > To: David Orchard
> > > Cc: xml-dist-app@w3.org
> > > Subject: Re: What is a SOAP Message
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > +1 to Noah's last message, but I also wanted to respond to Dave's
> > > questions ...
> > >
> > > On Tue, Feb 04, 2003 at 07:08:09PM -0800, David Orchard wrote:
> > > > woah, that seems a bit extreme.
> > > >
> > > > Does that mean if I have a method in an HTML form - like
> > > GetStockQuote :-) -
> > > > that the HTML result isn't a representation as well?
> > >
> > > No, response messages of any kind are almost always representations,
> > > independant of the form of request message.
> > >
> > > - getStockQuote("SUNW") returns a representation
> > > - GET /foo returns a representation
> > >
> > > As an example of what it means to return a
> > non-representation, imagine
> > > sending a request, and getting a response that was really another
> > > request that the protocol said you had to treat as a
> > request, not just
> > > opaque data.
> > >
> > > > So dereferencing URIs can result in representations and
> > > non-representations?
> > >
> > > Just representations.
> > >
> > > MB
> > > --
> > > Mark Baker.   Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA.
>http://www.markbaker.ca
> > Web architecture consulting, technical reports, evaluation & analysis
> >

______________________________________________________
John J. Barton          email:  John_Barton@hpl.hp.com
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/John_Barton/index.htm
MS 1U-17  Hewlett-Packard Labs
1501 Page Mill Road              phone: (650)-236-2888
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Received on Wednesday, 12 February 2003 19:37:15 UTC