1. Key features

1.1 Why introduce SOAP

In just a few years, accessing remote information via the Internet has become an essential requirement. Today, by far the most widely used protocol for this purpose is HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), defined by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). Supported by every browser and Web server, it's a practical technology for transferring text, images, sound and any other type of digital information.

But HTTP alone is not enough, and Internet use is no longer limited to the transfer of loosely structured files containing text and images. Typed information exchanges between components of the same application are on the increase.

The way to build an exchange between two components is essentially based on the concept...