SOAP with Attachments

SOAP with Attachments ( SwA ) is a W3C proposal for the transport of SOAP messages within MIME messages primarily via HTTP. SOAP with Attachments defines rules for the use of URI references that reference from the SOAP message to the attachments contained in the MIME message. The MIME multipart mechanism for the encapsulation of compound documents is in this case used to transport the attachments of the SOAP message.

SwA is not a specification or recommendation of the W3C, but a proposal to send based on the existing mechanisms of SOAP and MIME messages with attachments can. With the introduction of SOAP 1.2, SOAP 1.2 Attachment Feature is defined.

Alternatives

Adopted in January 2005, the W3C recommendation for sending attachments with SOAP messages, the SOAP Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM ). This recommendation is intended to SOAP with Attachments, and replace the other usual techniques for transmission of binary data, such as the use of CDATA blocks, Base64 encoding, as well as Microsoft's Direct Internet Message Encapsulation ( DIME ).