SOAP messages with attachments - a definition

 

From an architecture and external specification viewpoint,  

 

SOAP Messages with Attachments is an extension to the  

 

SOAP 1.1 Recommendation from the  

 

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) .

The W3C SOAP messages with attachments document describes a standard way to associate a SOAP message with one or more attachments in their native format (for example GIF or JPEG) by using a multipart MIME structure for transport. It defines specific usage of the Multipart/Related MIME media type, and rules for the usage of URI references to refer to entities bundled within the MIME package. It thereby outlines a technique for a SOAP 1.1 message to be carried within a MIME multipart/related message in such a way that the SOAP processing rules for a standard SOAP message are not changed.

An associated W3C document  

 

Web services Description Language (WSDL) outlines a technique for including bindings to MIME types in a WSDL file.

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Passing SOAP messages with attachments through the Web services gateway
Writing the WSDL extensions for SOAP messages with attachments