Chapter 7. Serving SOAP over HTTP

Whereas the previous chapter focused on developing SOAP clients, this chapter focuses on designing and developing a server. It's not that the mechanics of writing a server are complex: a server can be as simple as a client. The design of a server application can make it easy to handle requests from multiple clients , if done well. Much of this depends on whether SOAP is a part of the design and planning from the outset or whether it is an afterthought.

In this chapter we develop a sample application designed and planned with SOAP as a basic building block. The server demonstrates how easily SOAP::Lite supports HTTP development. It will also show good design of SOAP servers, including features such as authentication and code security.