Chapter 8. SOAP Services Without HTTP

In previous chapters the examples of SOAP client and server applications used HTTP for transport, either explicitly, as in the case of the servers, or implicitly through the SOAP::Transport abstraction layer, in the case of the clients .

This chapter focuses on using other protocols to provide and access SOAP services. The themes and code from the previous chapter (the book buyer's wish list) still form the basis for the coding examples. In some cases, the examples will augment the HTTP services; in others, they will replace them.

As web services branch out into areas like wireless applications, other protocols are getting attention. Raw TCP/IP may be used if a platform doesn't want to implement full HTTP support. POP3 and other protocols make email more accessible from almost anywhere . Whether to use an alternate protocol is as much a design decision as choosing SOAP itself. The examples in this chapter show how the classes may be used.