SOAP version 1.2 is a lightweight protocol for exchange of information in a decentralized, distributed environment. It is an XML based protocol that consists of four parts:

An envelope that defines a framework for DESCRIBING what is in a message and how to process it, a set of encoding rules for expressing instances of application-defined data types, a convention for REPRESENTING remote procedure calls and responses and a binding convention for exchanging messages using an underlying protocol. SOAP can POTENTIALLY be USED in combination with a variety of other protocols; however, the only bindings defined in this DOCUMENT describe how to use SOAP in combination with HTTP and the experimental HTTP Extension Framework.

SOAP version 1.2 is a lightweight protocol for exchange of information in a decentralized, distributed environment. It is an XML based protocol that consists of four parts:

An envelope that defines a framework for describing what is in a message and how to process it, a set of encoding rules for expressing instances of application-defined data types, a convention for representing remote procedure calls and responses and a binding convention for exchanging messages using an underlying protocol. SOAP can potentially be used in combination with a variety of other protocols; however, the only bindings defined in this document describe how to use SOAP in combination with HTTP and the experimental HTTP Extension Framework.