6.4 Other SOAP-Related Modules

6.4 Other SOAP- Related Modules

Before moving to more advanced topics like writing servers, it is worthwhile to briefly look at some other SOAP-related modules that are available on CPAN.

6.4.1 SOAP::payload

This package, written by Stephen Martin, is designed to aid in the encapsulation of various arbitrary types of data into SOAP payloads. The manpage offers examples geared towards relational database usage through interaction with the DBI module. It doesn't provide a transport layer or a deserialization layer. It does provide methods for working with strings and array references, as well as database handles. The URNs for things such as the SOAP namespace and the XSchema-related namespaces are configurable, too.

6.4.2 SOAP::Lite::SmartProxy

The SOAP::Lite::SmartProxy module is written by Daniel Yacob and is designed to extend the functionality of SOAP::Lite itself by providing "smart" proxying of services between SOAP servers in an environment where some may not be directly accessible to clients (such as firewall installations).

It installs into a similar package namespace as SOAP::Lite and provides a different URI scheme in the form of httpx to signify that the server should use the smart-proxy code. Client applications can also uses the proxy when appropriate.

6.4.3 Meta::Comm::Soap

Part of the Meta module by Mark Veltzer, which is a collection of some 250 or more utility classes, the Meta::Comm::Soap::Client and Meta::Comm::Soap::Server classes provide simple starting points for deriving client and server objects. They don't natively provide transport or other features; these are imported from SOAP::Lite classes. The Meta package as a whole is still alpha-level work at the time of this writing but may prove useful.