Nice concise description, Gary, but I should point out that the RPC programming model and the encoding system are orthogonal. You can use literal with RPC, and you can use encoded with Document.
Anne > -----Original Message----- > From: Gary Feldman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2002 11:50 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: RPC Vs Messaging > > > > From: Krishnamurthy, Ramanathan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2002 5:43 PM > > > > Is this distinction necessary ? Isn't messaging a special case of RPC. > > The terminology itself is confusing. I'm not sure where this > usage started, > but > I think it's wrong. And I think you have it backwards (RPC is the special > case). > > Here's my take: > > SOAP defines a message protocol. Thus everything is a message, and a SOAP > message is defined by the standard as being an XML document comprised of a > SOAP envelope containing an optional header and required body. > > What some people call the message model (including, in some sense, the > Apache SOAP > API) is also called document-style SOAP (e.g., the new O'Reilly > book on SOAP > by Snell, > et al uses this term), though I think "generic" might also be a reasonable > term. In > any event, all SOAP says is that the body must be an XML element named > "body". > > The RPC model adds to this (and thus is a subset) by adding an encoding > scheme (technically it's just one possible encoding scheme, but it seems > certain to be the de > facto standard) and a model that defines parameters, requests, and > responses. Thus, it really is a special case of the more general document > model that happens to use one > particular set of rules for the content of the body of the SOAP message. > > Just to confound things, there's nothing stopping you from building an RPC > system using the Apache SOAP "Message" model. > > Gary > > ==================================================================== > Ready-to-Run Software, Inc. > The Industry's Leading Provider of > Cross-Platform and Porting Services > ***************************** > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Gary Feldman > fax : 1-978-692-5401 Ready-to-Run Software, Inc. > voice: 1-978-251-5431 11 School Street > www : http://www.rtr.com North Chelmsford, MA 01863 > USA >
