Description: The Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) specification is a messaging protocol that allows programs running on different operating systems to communicate with each other over the internet, typically using HTTP. It is a standard protocol defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for exchanging structured information in web services using XML. SOAP can be used for exchanging complete documents or calling a remote procedure. It is platform-independent, language-independent, and can be used in different network protocols, making it highly versatile for web service interactions. Additional information: Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is a messaging protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of web services in computer networks. It uses XML (Extensible Markup Language) to encode its messages and relies on application layer protocols, most often Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), for message negotiation and transmission. SOAP can form the foundation layer of a web services protocol stack, providing a basic messaging framework upon which web services can be built. This XML-based protocol consists of three parts: an envelope, which defines the content of the message and how to process it, a set of encoding rules for expressing instances of application-defined datatypes, and a convention for representing remote procedure calls and responses. SOAP can be used for program-to-program communication through a network. It allows programs running on disparate operating systems such as Windows and Linux to communicate with each other. It also allows you to communicate between different programming languages like Java, .NET, and Python. SOAP messages are independent of any operating system or protocol and can be transported using a variety of internet protocols, including SMTP, MIME, and HTTP. This makes it a versatile and widely used standard for web services communication. SOAP provides the Application Programming Interface (API) that allows web services to interact with one another. It also provides a way to communicate between applications running on different operating systems, with different technologies and programming languages. In summary, SOAP is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of web services in computer networks. It uses XML for its message format, and can be used over a variety of transport protocols such as HTTP, SMTP, and more. Example: 1. Web Services: SOAP is commonly used in web services within the internet for communication. It allows different applications to communicate with each other over the internet to share information and services. For instance, a travel booking website might use a SOAP message to request flight information from an airline's web service. 2. Remote Procedure Calls: SOAP can be used to implement remote procedure calls (RPCs), where one software application on one computer sends a request to a software application on another computer and waits for a response. This is often used in distributed computing and cloud services. 3. Data Exchange: SOAP can be used to exchange structured and typed information between peers in a decentralized, distributed environment. For instance, a weather application might use SOAP to request data from a weather service. 4. Enterprise Software Communication: In large organizations, different software systems often need to communicate with each other. For example, a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system might need to interact with an Order Management System (OMS). SOAP can be used to facilitate this communication. 5. Financial Services: In the financial industry, SOAP is often used to exchange information in real-time. For example, a stock trading application might use SOAP to send a buy or sell order to a stock exchange. 6. Healthcare Services: In healthcare, SOAP can be used to exchange patient data between different systems. For example, a hospital's patient management system might use SOAP to send patient records to a government health department. Publisher: EIRA team LOST view: TV-Technical Agreements Identifier: http://data.europa.eu/dr8/egovera/SimpleObjectAccessProtocolContract EIRA traceability: eira:TechnicalInteroperabilityAgreementContract EIRA concept: eira:SolutionBuildingBlock Last modification: 2023-08-03 dct:identifier: http://data.europa.eu/dr8/egovera/SimpleObjectAccessProtocolContract dct:title: Simple Object Access Protocol Contract