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Message-ID: <E13D5E98E857D2118CEE08002BB232EC032A29E7@exch12.wins.bpa.gov>
From: "Kochheiser, Todd W - TOS" <twkochheiser@bpa.gov>
To: "'soap-user@xml.apache.org'" <soap-user@xml.apache.org>
Subject: RE: Defining a SOAP Application Schema
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 06:22:02 -0700
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Thank you very much for filling in what was a very large missing piece for
me and apparently the SOAP standard in general.  It's all very clear now ;-)
Are you aware of the current status of a standard for describing interfaces
and if it will be included in the next version of SOAP?  Without it (and
Vendors to support and use it), the wholly grail of SOAP being agnostic to
OS, language, and vendor seems rather far off.

Regards,
Todd Kochheiser

-----Original Message-----
From: James Snell [mailto:jmsnell@intesolv.com]
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2000 4:43 PM
To: 'soap-user@xml.apache.org'
Subject: RE: Defining a SOAP Application Schema


Todd,

There are currently four separate proposals for "SOAP Interface description"
grammars that use XML Schema to describe the base XML architecture as well
as additional grammar to describe interface and entrypoint semantics.  There
is some progress being made to merge these into one, possibly two, different
proposals.  In the meantime, the two primary choices (currently available in
production environment) are Microsoft's SDL (supported only by the SOAP
Toolkit) and IBM's NASSL (supported only by IBM's NASSL Toolkit for the
SOAP4J Codebase).  In short: there aren't any really STANDARDS for how to
descibe SOAP interfaces via XML-Schema.  The options you can pick from are:

  1. IBM NASSL
  2. MS SDL
  3. MS SCL (SDL's successor that is still being defined)
  4. SIDL (www.soap-wrc.com/sidl.txt)
  5. Raw XML-Schemas

- James

-----Original Message-----
From: Kochheiser, Todd W - TOS [mailto:twkochheiser@bpa.gov]
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2000 4:28 PM
To: 'soap-user@xml.apache.org'
Subject: Defining a SOAP Application Schema


Greetings,

I've read more about SOAP than I probably should have and I have yet to find
a good example/standard for how to describe, via XML-Schema, a large set of
methods, their parameters, and return types.  While there are LOTS of
examples of SOAP instances that show a request/reply, finding a good Schema
documenting a "real" application seems to be a bit more of a challenge.

First, before I too ahead of myself, I'm new to this list and will probably
show my ignorance rather quickly.  What I'm trying to do is convert an
existing inter-company (b-to-b if you will) application that uses a
proprietary CSV format sent via an HTTP POST.  In the current application we
define "templates" and their request/reply CSV formats (column headers and
such).  SOAP looks IDEAL to finally replace this nightmare and I can
visualize very clearly how it would work.  But, before I attempt to document
the new SOAP methods to replace the CSV templates, I'd like to make sure the
XML-Schema I produce will truly capture the SOAP Header and Body child
elements and provide adequate documentation to the developers.  And, the
structures will generally be complex rather than simply input/output types.

Without any industry direction, I'll need to add a lot of verbiage to
describe how the elements in my schema relate to one another (response
element for a request, etc.) and when certain headers are to be used.  I
know that MS uses SDL, but I'm fairly certain that isn't a universal
standard and is poorly documented.  Also, this application will be
implemented by many different companies using many different operating
systems and languages.  So, I don't have the benefit of complete control
over the environment.

Regards and thank you,
Todd Kochheiser
Bonneville Power Administration