Keith,
SOAP messages can take many forms. SOAPAction provides the information
needed by a generic message broker to dispatch a message to the appropriate
handler, without requiring the message broker to have intimate knowledge of
each SOAP message structure. The SOAPAction can serve as a "key" into a
table of message processors. IMO, SOAPAction is conceptually similar to the
MIME Content-type.
If a generic message broker couldn't determine the message type from a
request header it require intimate knowledge of each message structure in
order to perform dispatch functions. It's more efficient and easier to write
a
message broker that operates off the MIME/HTTP headers for dispatching
purposes.
Dick Brooks (ebXML liaison)
http://www.8760.com/
-----Original Message-----
From: xml-dist-app-request(_at_)w3(_dot_)org
[mailto:xml-dist-app-request(_at_)w3(_dot_)org]On
Behalf Of Keith Moore
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2001 7:17 PM
To: Henrik Frystyk Nielsen
Cc: moore(_at_)cs(_dot_)utk(_dot_)edu; Mark Nottingham;
ietf(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org;
xml-dist-app(_at_)w3(_dot_)org
Subject: Re: SOAP/XML Protocol and filtering, etc.
The meaning of SOAPAction is not to say that "this is a stockquote
service" but to say that "I am sending you a SOAP message of a type that
is part of a stock quote service".
okay, fine. but why bother exposing this in the request header at all?
Keith