Copyright © 2002-2007 by The Web Services-Interoperability Organization (WS-I) and Certain of its Members. All Rights Reserved.
This document defines the WS-I Basic Profile 1.2, consisting of a set of non-proprietary Web services specifications, along with clarifications, refinements, interpretations and amplifications of those specifications which promote interoperability
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1. Introduction
1.1. Relationships to Other Profiles
1.2. Guiding Principles
1.3. Compatibility with Basic Profile 1.1
1.4. Notational Conventions
1.5. Profile Identification and Versioning
2. Profile Conformance
2.1. Conformance Requirements
2.2. Conformance Targets
2.3. Conformance Scope
2.4. Claiming Conformance
3. Messaging
3.1. Message Serialization
3.1.1. XML Envelope Serialization
3.1.2. Unicode BOMs
3.1.3. XML Declarations
3.1.4. Character Encodings
3.1.5. XOP Encoded Messages
3.2. SOAP Envelopes
3.2.1. SOAP Envelope Structure
3.2.2. SOAP Envelope Namespace
3.2.3. SOAP Body Namespace Qualification
3.2.4. Disallowed Constructs
3.2.5. SOAP Trailers
3.2.6. SOAP encodingStyle Attribute
3.2.7. SOAP mustUnderstand Attribute
3.2.8. xsi:type Attributes
3.2.9. SOAP1.1 attributes on SOAP1.1 elements
3.3. SOAP Processing Model
3.3.1. Mandatory Headers
3.3.2. Generating mustUnderstand Faults
3.3.3. SOAP Fault Processing
3.4. SOAP Faults
3.4.1. Identifying SOAP Faults
3.4.2. SOAP Fault Structure
3.4.3. SOAP Fault Namespace Qualification
3.4.4. SOAP Fault Extensibility
3.4.5. SOAP Fault Language
3.4.6. SOAP Custom Fault Codes
3.4.7. SOAP Defined Faults Action URI
3.4.8. SOAP MustUnderstand or VersionMismatch fault Transmission
3.5. Use of WS-Addressing MAPs
3.5.1. Use of wsa:Action and WS-Addressing 1.0 Metadata
3.5.2. Understanding WS-Addressing SOAP Header Blocks
3.5.3. Valid Range of Values for SOAPAction When WS-Addressing is Used
3.6. Use of SOAP in HTTP
3.6.1. HTTP Protocol Binding
3.6.2. HTTP Methods and Extensions
3.6.3. SOAPAction HTTP Header
3.6.4. HTTP Success Status Codes
3.6.5. HTTP Redirect Status Codes
3.6.6. HTTP Client Error Status Codes
3.6.7. HTTP Server Error Status Codes
3.6.8. HTTP Cookies
3.6.9. Use of Non-Anoymous Reponse EPR in a Request-Response Operation
4. Service Description
4.1. Required Description
4.2. Document Structure
4.2.1. WSDL Schema Definitions
4.2.2. WSDL and Schema Import
4.2.3. WSDL Import location Attribute Structure
4.2.4. WSDL Import location Attribute Semantics
4.2.5. Placement of WSDL import Elements
4.2.6. XML Version Requirements
4.2.7. XML Namespace Declarations
4.2.8. WSDL and the Unicode BOM
4.2.9. Acceptable WSDL Character Encodings
4.2.10. Namespace Coercion
4.2.11. WSDL documentation Element
4.2.12. WSDL Extensions
4.3. Types
4.3.1. QName References
4.3.2. Schema targetNamespace Structure
4.3.3. soapenc:Array
4.3.4. WSDL and Schema Definition Target Namespaces
4.3.5. Multiple GED Definitions with the same QName
4.3.6. Multiple Type Definitions with the same QName
4.4. Messages
4.4.1. Bindings and Parts
4.4.2. Bindings and Faults
4.4.3. Unbound portType Element Contents
4.4.4. Declaration of part Elements
4.5. Port Types
4.5.1. Ordering of part Elements
4.5.2. Allowed Operations
4.5.3. Distinctive Operations
4.5.4. parameterOrder Attribute Construction
4.5.5. Exclusivity of type and element Attributes
4.6. Bindings
4.6.1. Use of SOAP Binding
4.7. SOAP Binding
4.7.1. Specifying the transport Attribute
4.7.2. HTTP Transport
4.7.3. Consistency of style Attribute
4.7.4. Encodings and the use Attribute
4.7.5. Multiple Bindings for portType Elements
4.7.6. Operation Signatures
4.7.7. Multiple Ports on an Endpoint
4.7.8. Child Element for Document-Literal Bindings
4.7.9. One-Way Operations
4.7.10. Namespaces for soapbind Elements
4.7.11. Consistency of portType and binding Elements
4.7.12. Describing headerfault Elements
4.7.13. Enumeration of Faults
4.7.14. Type and Name of SOAP Binding Elements
4.7.15. name Attribute on Faults
4.7.16. Omission of the use Attribute
4.7.17. Default for use Attribute
4.7.18. Consistency of Envelopes with Descriptions
4.7.19. Response Wrappers
4.7.20. Part Accessors
4.7.21. Namespaces for Children of Part Accessors
4.7.22. Required Headers
4.7.23. Allowing Undescribed Headers
4.7.24. Ordering Headers
4.7.25. Describing SOAPAction
4.7.26. SOAP Binding Extensions
4.8. Use of XML Schema
5. Service Publication and Discovery
5.1. bindingTemplates
5.2. tModels
6. Security
6.1. Use of HTTPS
Appendix A: Referenced Specifications
Appendix B: Extensibility Points
Appendix C: Normative References
Appendix D: Defined Terms
Appendix E: Acknowledgements
This document defines the WS-I Basic Profile 1.2 (hereafter, "Profile"), consisting of a set of non-proprietary Web services specifications, along with clarifications, refinements, interpretations and amplifications of those specifications which promote interoperability.
Section 1 introduces the Profile, and explains its relationships to other profiles.
Section 2, "Profile Conformance," explains what it means to be conformant to the Profile.
Each subsequent section addresses a component of the Profile, and consists of two parts; an overview detailing the component specifications and their extensibility points, followed by subsections that address individual parts of the component specifications. Note that there is no relationship between the section numbers in this document and those in the referenced specifications.
This Profile is derived from the Basic Profile 1.1 by incorporating any errata to date and including those requirements related to the serialization of envelopes and their representation in messages from the Simple SOAP Binding Profile 1.0.
This Profile is NOT intended to be composed with the Simple SOAP Binding Profile 1.0. The Attachments Profile 1.0 adds support for SOAP with Attachments, and is intended to be used in combination with this Profile.
The Profile was developed according to a set of principles that, together, form the philosophy of the Profile, as it relates to bringing about interoperability. This section documents these guidelines.
There are a few requirements in the Basic Profile 1.2 that may present compatibility issues with clients, services and their artifacts that have been engineered for Basic Profile 1.1 conformance. However, in general, the Basic Profile WG members have tried to preserve as much forwards and backwards compatibility with the Basic Profile 1.1 as possible so as not to disenfranchise clients, services and their artifacts that have been deployed in conformance with the Basic Profile 1.1.
We use the term 'backward compatible' to mean that an artifact, client or service that is conformant to the Basic Profile 1.1 will behave consistently with an implementation that is conformant with the Basic Profile 1.2. We use the term 'forward compatible' to mean that an artifact, client or service that is conformant with the Basic Profile 1.2 specification will be consistent with that of an implementation that is conformant with the Basic Profile 1.1.
We have attempted to capture all known potential backwards and forwards compatibility issues below:
wsa:Address value in the wsa:ReplyTo or wsa:FaultTo header block of the request message is not the WS-Addressing anonymous URI. The list above is not meant to be authoritative.
As noted above, some requirements may present issues of a forward or backward compatible nature with previously published versions of the profile. For convenience, such requirements and associated definitions are annotated in the following manner: Compat
The keywords "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC2119.
Normative statements of requirements in the Profile (i.e., those impacting conformance, as outlined in "Conformance Requirements") are presented in the following manner:
RnnnnStatement text here.
where "nnnn" is replaced by a number that is unique among the requirements in the Profile, thereby forming a unique requirement identifier.
Requirement identifiers can be considered to be namespace qualified, in such a way as to be compatible with QNames from Namespaces in XML. If there is no explicit namespace prefix on a requirement's identifier (e.g., "R9999" as opposed to "bp10:R9999"), it should be interpreted as being in the namespace identified by the conformance URI of the document section it occurs in. If it is qualified, the prefix should be interpreted according to the namespace mappings in effect, as documented below.
Some requirements clarify the referenced specification(s), but do not place additional constraints upon implementations. For convenience, clarifications are annotated in the following manner: C
Some requirements are derived from ongoing standardization work on the referenced specification(s). For convenience, such forward-derived statements are annotated in the following manner: xxxx, where "xxxx" is an identifier for the specification (e.g., "WSDL20" for WSDL Version 2.0). Note that because such work was not complete when this document was published, the specification that the requirement is derived from may change; this information is included only as a convenience to implementers.
As noted above, some requirements may present compatibility issues (whether forwards or backwards) with previously published versions of the profile. For convenience, such requirements are annotated in the following manner: Compat
Extensibility points in underlying specifications (see "Conformance Scope") are presented in a similar manner:
EnnnnExtensibility Point Name - Description
where "nnnn" is replaced by a number that is unique among the extensibility points in the Profile. As with requirement statements, extensibility statements can be considered namespace-qualified.
This specification uses a number of namespace prefixes throughout; their associated URIs are listed below. Note that the choice of any namespace prefix is arbitrary and not semantically significant.
This document is identified by a name (in this case, Basic Profile) and a version number (here, 1.2). Together, they identify a particular profile instance.
Version numbers are composed of a major and minor portion, in the form "major.minor". They can be used to determine the precedence of a profile instance; a higher version number (considering both the major and minor components) indicates that an instance is more recent, and therefore supersedes earlier instances.
Instances of profiles with the same name (e.g., "Example Profile 1.1" and "Example Profile 5.0") address interoperability problems in the same general scope (although some developments may require the exact scope of a profile to change between instances).
One can also use this information to determine whether two instances of a profile are backwards-compatible; that is, whether one can assume that conformance to an earlier profile instance implies conformance to a later one. Profile instances with the same name and major version number (e.g., "Example Profile 1.0" and "Example Profile 1.1") MAY be considered compatible. Note that this does not imply anything about compatibility in the other direction; that is, one cannot assume that conformance with a later profile instance implies conformance to an earlier one.
Conformance to the Profile is defined by adherence to the set of requirements defined for a specific target, within the scope of the Profile. This section explains these terms and describes how conformance is defined and used.
Requirements state the criteria for conformance to the Profile. They typically refer to an existing specification and embody refinements, amplifications, interpretations and clarifications to it in order to improve interoperability. All requirements in the Profile are considered normative, and those in the specifications it references that are in-scope (see "Conformance Scope") should likewise be considered normative. When requirements in the Profile and its referenced specifications contradict each other, the Profile's requirements take precedence for purposes of Profile conformance.
Requirement levels, using RFC2119 language (e.g., MUST, MAY, SHOULD) indicate the nature of the requirement and its impact on conformance. Each requirement is individually identified (e.g., R9999) for convenience.
For example;
R9999 Any WIDGET SHOULD be round in shape.
This requirement is identified by "R9999", applies to the target WIDGET (see below), and places a conditional requirement upon widgets; i.e., although this requirement must be met to maintain conformance in most cases, there are some situations where there may be valid reasons for it not being met (which are explained in the requirement itself, or in its accompanying text).
Each requirement statement contains exactly one requirement level keyword (e.g., "MUST") and one conformance target keyword (e.g., "MESSAGE"). The conformance target keyword appears in bold text (e.g. "MESSAGE"). Other conformance targets appearing in non-bold text are being used strictly for their definition and NOT as a conformance target. Additional text may be included to illuminate a requirement or group of requirements (e.g., rationale and examples); however, prose surrounding requirement statements must not be considered in determining conformance.
Definitions of terms in the Profile are considered authoritative for the purposes of determining conformance.
None of the requirements in the Profile, regardless of their conformance level, should be interpreted as limiting the ability of an otherwise conforming implementation to apply security countermeasures in response to a real or perceived threat (e.g., a denial of service attack).
Conformance targets identify what artifacts (e.g., SOAP message, WSDL description, UDDI registry data) or parties (e.g., SOAP processor, end user) requirements apply to.
This allows for the definition of conformance in different contexts, to assure unambiguous interpretation of the applicability of requirements, and to allow conformance testing of artifacts (e.g., SOAP messages and WSDL descriptions) and the behavior of various parties to a Web service (e.g., clients and service instances).
Requirements' conformance targets are physical artifacts wherever possible, to simplify testing and avoid ambiguity.
The following conformance targets are used in the Profile:
The scope of the Profile delineates the technologies that it addresses; in other words, the Profile only attempts to improve interoperability within its own scope. Generally, the Profile's scope is bounded by the specifications referenced by it.
The Profile's scope is further refined by extensibility points. Referenced specifications often provide extension mechanisms and unspecified or open-ended configuration parameters; when identified in the Profile as an extensibility point, such a mechanism or parameter is outside the scope of the Profile, and its use or non-use is not relevant to conformance.
Note that the Profile may still place requirements on the use of an extensibility point. Also, specific uses of extensibility points may be further restricted by other profiles, to improve interoperability when used in conjunction with the Profile.
Because the use of extensibility points may impair interoperability, their use should be negotiated or documented in some fashion by the parties to a Web service; for example, this could take the form of an out-of-band agreement.
The Profile's scope is defined by the referenced specifications in Appendix A, as refined by the extensibility points in Appendix B.
Claims of conformance to the Profile can be made using the following mechanisms, as described in Conformance Claim Attachment Mechanisms, when the applicable Profile requirements associated with the listed targets have been met:
The conformance claim URI for this Profile is "http://ws-i.org/profiles/basic/1.2" .
This section of the Profile incorporates the following specifications by reference, and defines extensibility points within them:
The profile is intended to compose with mechanisms currently under development to describe whether messages are encoded as SIMPLE_SOAP_MESSAGEs or XOP_ENCODED_MESSAGEs. As such it does not mandate that both of those encodings be supported for any given operation. Indeed, neither of these encodings need be supported if an alternate encoding such as that described in the Attachments Profile 1.0 is used.
SOAP 1.1 defines an XML structure for transmitting messages, the envelope. The Profile places the following constraints on the use and serialization of the soap:Envelope element and its content:
This section of the Profile incorporates the following specifications by reference:
R9701 An ENVELOPE MUST be serialized as XML 1.0.
XML 1.0 allows UTF-8 encoding to include a BOM; therefore, receivers of envelopes must be prepared to accept them. The BOM is mandatory for XML encoded as UTF-16.
R4001 A RECEIVER MUST accept envelopes that include the Unicode Byte Order Mark (BOM).C
Presence or absence of an XML declaration does not affect interoperability. Certain implementations might always precede their XML serialization with the XML declaration.
R1010 A RECEIVER MUST accept messages with envelopes that contain an XML Declaration. C
The Profile requires XML processors to support the "UTF-8" and "UTF-16" character encodings, in order to aid interoperability.
As a consequence of this, in conjunction with SOAP 1.1's requirement to use the "text/xml" media type (which has a default character encoding of "us-ascii") on envelopes, the "charset" parameter must always be present on the envelope's content-type. A further consequence of this is that the encoding pseudo-attribute of XML declaration within the message is always ignored, in accordance with the requirements of both XML 1.0 and RFC3023, "XML Media Types".
The "charset" parameter of Content-Type HTTP header field must be used to determine the correct character encoding of the message, in absence of a "charset" parameter, the default value for charset (which is "us-ascii") must be used.
R1012 An ENVELOPE MUST be serialized using either UTF-8 or UTF-16 character encoding.
R1018 A SIMPLE_SOAP_MESSAGE MUST indicate the correct character encoding, using the "charset" parameter. C
R1019 A RECEIVER MUST ignore the encoding pseudo-attribute of the envelope's XML declaration.
There is pervasive implementation that is apparently encoding the action parameter as a separate parameter of the enclosing MIME multipart/related
entity body's Content-Type header. The multipart/related media type specification does not include an action parameter, though it does permit
extensibility. Thus, the action parameter on the multipart/related
Content-Type header has no defined semantic. The correct encoding is to include
the action parameter inside the start-info parameter of the enclosing MIME multipart/related entity body as well as inside the type parameter of the root part.
R1020
A XOP_ENCODED_MESSAGE MUST include the start-info parameter in the
Content-Type header of the enclosing multipart/related MIME entity body.
R1021
A XOP_ENCODED_MESSAGE SHOULD include the full value of the type parameter
from the root entity body part inside the start-info parameter of the enclosing
multipart/related MIME entity body part's Content-Type header.
R1022
A RECEIVER MUST accept a XOP encoded message that has the action parameter,
associated with the SOAP message, encoded inside the
start-info parameter on the Content-Type header of the enclosing multipart/related
MIME entity body.
R1023
A RECEIVER MAY accept a XOP encoded message that has the action parameter,
associated with the SOAP message, encoded as a separate parameter on the
Content-Type header of the enclosing multipart/related
MIME entity body.
INCORRECT:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: Multipart/Related;boundary=MIME_boundary;
type="application/xop+xml";
start="<mymessage.xml@example.org>";
start-info="application/soap+xml"; action="ProcessData"
--MIME_boundary
Content-Type: application/xop+xml;
charset=UTF-8;
type="application/soap+xml; action=\"ProcessData\""
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-ID: <mymessage.xml@example.org>
[...]
CORRECT:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: Multipart/Related;boundary=MIME_boundary;
type="application/xop+xml";
start="<mymessage.xml@example.org>";
start-info="application/soap+xml; action=\"ProcessData\""
Content-Description: A SOAP message with my pic and sig in it
--MIME_boundary
Content-Type: application/xop+xml;
charset=UTF-8;
type="application/soap+xml; action=\"ProcessData\""
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-ID: <mymessage.xml@example.org>
[...]
This section of the Profile incorporates the following specifications by reference:
SOAP 1.1 defines a structure for composing messages, the envelope. The Profile mandates the use of that structure, and places the following constraints on its use:
R9980 An ENVELOPE MUST conform to the structure specified in SOAP 1.1 Section 4, "SOAP Envelope" (subject to amendment by the Profile).
R9981
An ENVELOPE MUST have exactly zero or one child elements of the soap:Body element.
While the combination of R2201 and R2210 (below) clearly imply that there may be at most one child element of the soap:Body, there is no explicit requirement in the Profile that articulates this constraint, leading to some confusion.
SOAP 1.1 states that an envelope with a document element whose namespace name is other than "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" should be discarded. The Profile requires that a fault be generated instead, to assure unambiguous operation.
R1015
A RECEIVER MUST generate a fault if they encounter an envelope whose document
element is not soap:Envelope.
The use of unqualified element names may cause naming conflicts, therefore
qualified names must be used for the children of soap:Body.
R1014
The children of the soap:Body element in an ENVELOPE MUST
be namespace qualified.
XML DTDs and PIs may introduce security vulnerabilities, processing overhead and semantic ambiguity when used in envelopes. As a result, certain XML constructs are disallowed by section 3 of SOAP 1.1.
Although published errata NE05 (see http://www.w3.org/XML/xml-names-19990114-errata) allows the namespace declaration xmlns:xml="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace" to appear, some older processors considered such a declaration to be an error. These requirements ensure that conformant artifacts have the broadest interoperability possible.
R1008 An ENVELOPE MUST NOT contain a Document Type Declaration. C
R1009 An ENVELOPE MUST NOT contain Processing Instructions. C
R1033 An ENVELOPE SHOULD NOT contain the namespace declaration xmlns:xml="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace". C
The interpretation
of sibling elements following the soap:Body element is
unclear. Therefore, such elements are disallowed.
R1011
An ENVELOPE MUST NOT have any element children of
soap:Envelope following the soap:Body element.
This requirement clarifies a mismatch between the SOAP 1.1 specification and the SOAP 1.1 XML Schema.
INCORRECT:
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap='http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/' >
<soap:Body>
<p:Process xmlns:p='http://example.org/Operations' />
</soap:Body>
<m:Data xmlns:m='http://example.org/information' >
Here is some data with the message
</m:Data>
</soap:Envelope>
CORRECT:
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap='http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/' >
<soap:Body>
<p:Process xmlns:p='http://example.org/Operations' >
<m:Data xmlns:m='http://example.org/information' >
Here is some data with the message
</m:Data>
</p:Process>
</soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>
The soap:encodingStyle attribute is used to indicate the use of a particular
scheme in the encoding of data into XML. However, this introduces complexity,
as this function can also be served by the use of XML Namespaces. As a result,
the Profile prefers the use of literal, non-encoded XML.
R1005
An ENVELOPE MUST NOT contain soap:encodingStyle
attributes on any of the elements whose namespace name is "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/".
R1006
An ENVELOPE MUST NOT contain soap:encodingStyle
attributes on any element that is a child of soap:Body.
R1007
An ENVELOPE described in an rpc-literal binding MUST NOT
contain soap:encodingStyle attribute on any element that is a grandchild of soap:Body.
The soap:mustUnderstand attribute has a restricted type of "xsd:boolean"
that takes only "0" or "1". Therefore, only those two values are allowed.
R1013
An ENVELOPE containing a
soap:mustUnderstand attribute MUST
only use the lexical forms "0" and "1".
C
In many cases, senders and receivers will share some form of type information related to the envelopes being exchanged.
R1017
A RECEIVER MUST NOT mandate the use of the
xsi:type attribute in
envelopes except as required in order to indicate a
derived type (see XML Schema Part 1: Structures,
Section 2.6.1).
R1032
The soap:Envelope,
soap:Header, and soap:Body
elements in an ENVELOPE MUST NOT have attributes in the
namespace
"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/".
This section of the Profile incorporates the following specifications by reference:
SOAP 1.1 defines a model for the processing of envelopes. In particular, it defines rules for the processing of header blocks and the envelope body. It also defines rules related to generation of faults. The Profile places the following constraints on the processing model:
SOAP 1.1's processing model is underspecified with respect to the
processing of mandatory header blocks. Mandatory header blocks are
those children of the soap:Header element bearing a
soap:mustUnderstand attribute with a value of "1".
R1025 A RECEIVER MUST handle envelopes in such a way that it appears that all checking of mandatory header blocks is performed before any actual processing. SOAP12
This requirement guarantees that no undesirable side effects will occur as a result of noticing a mandatory header block after processing other parts of the message.
The Profile requires that receivers generate a fault when they encounter header blocks targeted at them, that they do not understand.
R1027
A RECEIVER MUST generate a
"soap:MustUnderstand" fault when an envelope contains a
mandatory header block (i.e., one that has a soap:mustUnderstand
attribute with the value "1") targeted at the receiver (via
soap:actor) that the receiver does not
understand.SOAP12
When a fault is generated, no further processing should be performed. In request-response exchanges, a fault message will be transmitted to the sender of the request, and some application level error will be flagged to the user.
Both SOAP and this Profile use the term 'generate' to denote the creation of a SOAP Fault. It is important to realize that generation of a Fault is distinct from its transmission, which in some cases is not required.
R1028 When a fault is generated by a RECEIVER, further processing SHOULD NOT be performed on the SOAP envelope aside from that which is necessary to rollback, or compensate for, any effects of processing the envelope prior to the generation of the fault. SOAP12
R1029 Where the normal outcome of processing a SOAP envelope would have resulted in the transmission of a SOAP response, but rather a fault is generated instead, a RECEIVER MUST transmit a fault in place of the response.
R1030 A RECEIVER that generates a fault SHOULD notify the end user that a fault has been generated when practical, by whatever means is deemed appropriate to the circumstance.
Note that there may be valid reasons (such as security considerations) why a fault may not be transmitted.
Some consumer implementations erroneously
use only the HTTP status code to determine the
presence of a Fault. Because there are situations
where the Web infrastructure changes the HTTP status
code, and for general reliability, the Profile
requires that they examine the envelope. A Fault is an
envelope that has a single child element of the
soap:Body element, that element being
a soap:Fault element.
R1107
A RECEIVER MUST interpret a SOAP message as a Fault when the soap:Body
of the message has a single soap:Fault child.
The Profile restricts the content of the
soap:Fault element to those elements explicitly described
in SOAP 1.1.
R1000
When an ENVELOPE is a Fault, the soap:Fault element MUST NOT
have element children other than
faultcode, faultstring,
faultactor and
detail.
INCORRECT:
<soap:Fault xmlns:soap='http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/' >
<faultcode>soap:Client</faultcode>
<faultstring>Invalid message format</faultstring>
<faultactor>http://example.org/someactor</faultactor>
<detail>There were <b>lots</b> of elements in the message
that I did not understand
</detail>
<m:Exception xmlns:m='http://example.org/faults/exceptions' >
<m:ExceptionType>Severe</m:ExceptionType>
</m:Exception>
</soap:Fault>
CORRECT:
<soap:Fault xmlns:soap='http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/' >
<faultcode>soap:Client</faultcode>
<faultstring>Invalid message format</faultstring>
<faultactor>http://example.org/someactor</faultactor>
<detail>
<m:msg xmlns:m='http://example.org/faults/exceptions'>
There were <b>lots</b> of elements in
the message that I did not understand
</m:msg>
<m:Exception xmlns:m='http://example.org/faults/exceptions'>
<m:ExceptionType>Severe</m:ExceptionType>
</m:Exception>
</detail>
</soap:Fault>
The children of the soap:Fault element are
local to that element, therefore namespace qualification is unnecessary.
R1001
When an ENVELOPE is a Fault, the element children of the soap:Fault element MUST be unqualified.
INCORRECT:
<soap:Fault xmlns:soap='http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/' >
<soap:faultcode>soap:Client</soap:faultcode>
<soap:faultstring>Invalid message format</soap:faultstring>
<soap:faultactor>http://example.org/someactor</soap:faultactor>
<soap:detail>
<m:msg xmlns:m='http://example.org/faults/exceptions'>
There were <b>lots</b> of elements in the message that
I did not understand
</m:msg>
</soap:detail>
</soap:Fault>
CORRECT:
<soap:Fault xmlns:soap='http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/'
xmlns='' >
<faultcode>soap:Client</faultcode>
<faultstring>Invalid message format</faultstring>
<faultactor>http://example.org/someactor</faultactor>
<detail>
<m:msg xmlns:m='http://example.org/faults/exceptions'>
There were <b>lots</b> of elements in the message that
I did not understand
</m:msg>
</detail>
</soap:Fault>
For extensibility, additional attributes are allowed to
appear on the detail element and additional
elements are allowed to appear as children of the detail
element.
R1002
A RECEIVER MUST accept faults that have any number of
elements, including zero, appearing as children of the
detail element. Such children can be qualified or
unqualified.
R1003
A RECEIVER MUST accept faults that have any number of
qualified or unqualified attributes, including zero, appearing on
the detail element. The namespace of qualified
attributes can be anything other than "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/".
Faultstrings are human-readable indications of the nature of a fault. As such, they may be in a particular language,
and therefore the xml:lang attribute can be used to
indicate the language of the faultstring.
Note that this requirement conflicts with the schema for SOAP appearing at its namespace URL. A schema without conflicts can be found at "http://ws-i.org/profiles/basic/1.1/soap-envelope-2004-01-21.xsd".
R1016
A RECEIVER MUST accept faults that carry an
xml:lang attribute on the
faultstring element.
SOAP 1.1 allows custom fault codes to appear
inside the faultcode element,
through the use of the "dot" notation.
Use of this mechanism to extend the meaning of the SOAP 1.1-defined fault codes can lead to namespace collision. Therefore, its use should be avoided, as doing so may cause interoperability issues when the same names are used in the right-hand side of the "." (dot) to convey different meaning.
Instead, the Profile encourages the use of the
fault codes defined in SOAP 1.1, along with
additional information in the detail
element to convey the nature of the fault.
Alternatively, it is acceptable to define custom fault codes in a namespace controlled by the specifying authority.
A number of specifications have already defined custom fault codes using the "." (dot) notation. Despite this, their use in future specifications is discouraged.
R1004
When an ENVELOPE contains a
faultcode element, the content of that
element SHOULD be either one of the fault codes defined in
SOAP 1.1 (supplying additional information if necessary in
the detail element), or a Qname whose
namespace is controlled by the fault's specifying
authority (in that order of preference).
R1031
When an ENVELOPE contains a
faultcode element the content of that element SHOULD NOT use of the SOAP 1.1 "dot"
notation to refine the meaning of the fault.
It is recommended that applications that require custom fault codes either use the SOAP1.1 defined fault codes and supply additional information in the detail element, or that they define these codes in a namespace that is controlled by the specifying authority.
INCORRECT:
<soap:Fault xmlns:soap='http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/'
xmlns:c='http://example.org/faultcodes' >
<faultcode>soap:Server.ProcessingError</faultcode>
<faultstring>An error occurred while processing the message
</faultstring>
</soap:Fault>
CORRECT:
<soap:Fault xmlns:soap='http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/'
xmlns:c='http://example.org/faultcodes' >
<faultcode>c:ProcessingError</faultcode>
<faultstring>An error occured while processing the message
</faultstring>
</soap:Fault>
CORRECT:
<soap:Fault xmlns:soap='http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/' > <faultcode>soap:Server</faultcode> <faultstring>An error occured while processing the message </faultstring> </soap:Fault>
WS-Addressing provides the URI http://www.w3.org/2005/08/addressing/soap/fault for "SOAP defined faults". However, it only recommends, rather than mandate its use for the SOAP1.1 defined MustUnderstand and VersionMismatch faults. This Profile mandates the use of the WS-Addressing defined wsa:Action value for SOAP1.1 defined MustUnderstand and VersionMismatch faults, for interoperability.
R1035
An ENVELOPE MUST use the http://www.w3.org/2005/08/addressing/soap/fault URI as the value for the wsa:Action
element when present, for either of the SOAP1.1 defined VersionMismatch and MustUnderstand faults.
WS-Addressing does not violate the SOAP processing model, but in fact plays within the rules defined by the SOAP processing model. Thus, regardless of the value of the wsa:ReplyTo or wsa:FaultTo, should a message generate either a SOAP MustUnderstand or VersionMismatch fault, that fault SHOULD be transmitted to the sender of the message generating such fault on the HTTP response message.
Note that this is a SHOULD requirement, as there may be valid reasons why the fault is not transmitted at all.
R1036 A RECEIVER that receives a SOAP envelope that generates either a SOAP MustUnderstand or VersionMismatch fault SHOULD transmit such a fault on the HTTP response message, regardless of the value of the wsa:ReplyTo or wsa:FaultTo SOAP headers present in the message.
This section of the Profile incorporates the following specifications by reference:
When using WS-Addressing, the Profile requires conformance to WS-Addressing 1.0 - Core, WS-Addressing 1.0 - SOAP Binding and WS-Addressing 1.0 - Metadata, Section 5.1 and places the following additional constraints.
WS-Addressing 1.0 - Metadata, Section 5.1 defines additional constraints on the cardinality of WS-Adressing Message Addressing Properties defined in WS-Addressing 1.0 - Core. These constraints are defined for every message involved in WSDL 1.1 transmission primitives. The Profile requires conformance to this section when WS-Addressing is used in conjunction with WSDL 1.1 description.
R1142
An ENVELOPE that includes a wsa:Action SOAP header block and which is described using WSDL 1.1 description MUST conform to
WS-Addressing 1.0 - Metadata, Section 5.1.
C
WS-Addressing 1.0 -- SOAP Binding defines multiple SOAP header blocks (wsa:To, wsa:From, wsa:ReplyTo, wsa:FaultTo, wsa:Action, wsa:MessageID, and wsa:RelatesTo). These SOAP header blocks are part of the same module. A SOAP node that conforms to the Profile understands all of these SOAP header blocks (when it understands WS-Addressing) or none at all (when it does not understand WS-Addressing).
R1143
When a message contains multiple WS-Addressing SOAP header blocks with at least one of those header blocks containing a
soap:mustUnderstand='1' attribute, then a RECEIVER MUST understand all the WS-Addressing SOAP header blocks or none of them.
C
Compat
There may be some confusion as regards to the range of valid values for SOAPAction when WS-Addressing is used, given the SOAP 1.1 specification permits the use of relative URIs.
When composed with WS-Addressing, the valid range of values of SOAPAction should be limited to an absolute URI that matches the value specified for wsa:Action. The empty string ("") is also allowed for special cases such as security considerations. For example, when the wsa:Action header is encrypted, set SOAPAction to "" maybe a way to avoid leakage.
R1144 When wsa:Action MAP is present in an envelope, the containing HTTP request MESSAGE MUST specify a SOAPAction HTTP header with either a value that is an absolute URI that has the same value as the value of the wsa:Action MAP, or a value of "" (empty string).
This section of the Profile incorporates the following specifications by reference:
SOAP 1.1 defines a single protocol binding, for HTTP. The Profile mandates the use of that binding, and places the following constraints on its use:
Several versions of HTTP are defined. HTTP/1.1 has performance advantages, and is more clearly specified than HTTP/1.0.
R1141 A MESSAGE MUST be sent using either HTTP/1.1 or HTTP/1.0.
R1140 A MESSAGE SHOULD be sent using HTTP/1.1.
Note that support for HTTP/1.0 is implied in HTTP/1.1, and that intermediaries may change the version of a message; for more information about HTTP versioning, see RFC2145, "Use and Interpretation of HTTP Version Numbers."
The SOAP1.1 specification defined its HTTP binding such that two possible methods could be used, the HTTP POST method and the HTTP Extension Framework's M-POST method. The Profile requires that only the HTTP POST method be used and precludes use of the HTTP Extension Framework.
R1132 A HTTP request MESSAGE MUST use the HTTP POST method.
R1108 A MESSAGE MUST NOT use the HTTP Extension Framework (RFC2774).
The HTTP Extension Framework is an experimental mechanism for extending HTTP in a modular fashion. Because it is not deployed widely and also because its benefits to the use of SOAP are questionable, the Profile does not allow its use.
Testing has demonstrated that
requiring the SOAPAction HTTP header
field-value to be quoted increases interoperability of
implementations. Even though HTTP allows unquoted header field-values, some
SOAP implementations require that they be quoted.
SOAPAction is purely a hint to
processors. All vital information regarding the
intent of a message is carried in soap:Envelope.
R1109
The value of the
SOAPAction HTTP header field in a HTTP
request MESSAGE MUST be a quoted string. C
R1119
A RECEIVER MAY respond
with a fault if the value of the
SOAPAction HTTP header field in a message
is not quoted. C
R1127
A RECEIVER MUST NOT rely
on the value of the SOAPAction HTTP
header to correctly process the message.SOAP12
CORRECT:
A WSDL Description that has:
<soapbind:operation soapAction="foo" />
results in a message with a SOAPAction HTTP header field of:
SOAPAction: "foo"
CORRECT:
A WSDL Description that has:
<soapbind:operation />
or
<soapbind:operation soapAction="" />
results in a message with a corresponding SOAPAction HTTP header field as follows:
SOAPAction: ""
HTTP uses the 2xx series of status codes to communicate success. In particular, 200 is the default for successful messages, but 202 can be used to indicate that a message has been submitted for processing. Additionally, other 2xx status codes may be appropriate, depending on the nature of the HTTP interaction.
R1124 An INSTANCE MUST use a 2xx HTTP status code on a response message that indicates the successful outcome of a HTTP request.
R1111 An INSTANCE SHOULD use a "200 OK" HTTP status code on a response message that contains an envelope that is not a fault.
R1112 An INSTANCE SHOULD use either a "200 OK" or "202 Accepted" HTTP status code for a response message that does not contain a SOAP envelope but indicates the successful outcome of a HTTP request.
Despite the fact that the HTTP 1.1 assigns different meanings to response status codes "200" and "202", in the context of the Profile they should be considered equivalent by the initiator of the request. The Profile accepts both status codes because some SOAP implementations have little control over the HTTP protocol implementation and cannot control which of these response status codes is sent.
There are interoperability problems with using many of the HTTP redirect status codes, generally surrounding whether to use the original method, or GET. The Profile mandates "307 Temporary Redirect", which has the semantic of redirection with the same HTTP method, as the correct status code for redirection. For more information, see the 3xx status code descriptions in RFC2616.
R1130 An INSTANCE MUST use the "307 Temporary Redirect" HTTP status code when redirecting a request to a different endpoint.
R1131 A CONSUMER MAY automatically redirect a request when it encounters a "307 Temporary Redirect" HTTP status code in a response.
RFC2616 notes that user-agents should not automatically redirect requests; however, this requirement was aimed at browsers, not automated processes (which many Web services will be). Therefore, the Profile allows, but does not require, consumers to automatically follow redirections.
HTTP uses the 4xx series of status codes to indicate failure due to a client error. Although there are a number of situations that may result in one of these codes, the Profile highlights those when the HTTP request does not have the proper media type, and when the anticipated method ("POST") is not used.
R1125 An INSTANCE MUST use a 4xx HTTP status code for a response that indicates a problem with the format of a request.
R1113 An INSTANCE SHOULD use a "400 Bad Request" HTTP status code, if a HTTP request message is malformed.
R1114 An INSTANCE SHOULD use a "405 Method not Allowed" HTTP status code if a HTTP request message's method is not "POST".
R1115 An INSTANCE SHOULD use a "415 Unsupported Media Type" HTTP status code if a HTTP request message's Content-Type header field-value is not permitted by its WSDL description.
Note that these requirements do not force an instance to respond to requests. In some cases, such as Denial of Service attacks, an instance may choose to ignore requests.
Also note that SOAP 1.1, Section 6.2 requires that SOAP Fault can only be returned with HTTP 500 "Internal Server Error" code. This profile doesn't change that requirement. When HTTP 4xx error status code is used, the response message should not contain a SOAP Fault.
HTTP uses the 5xx series of status codes to indicate failure due to a server error.
R1126 An INSTANCE MUST return a "500 Internal Server Error" HTTP status code if the response envelope is a Fault.
The HTTP State Management Mechanism ("Cookies") allows the creation of stateful sessions between Web browsers and servers. Being designed for hypertext browsing, Cookies do not have well-defined semantics for Web services, and, because they are external to the envelope, are not accommodated by either SOAP 1.1 or WSDL 1.1. However, there are situations where it may be necessary to use Cookies; e.g., for load balancing between servers, or for integration with legacy systems that use Cookies. For these reasons, the Profile limits the ways in which Cookies can be used, without completely disallowing them.
R1120 An INSTANCE MAY use the HTTP state mechanism ("Cookies").
R1122 An INSTANCE using Cookies SHOULD conform to RFC2965.
R1121 An INSTANCE SHOULD NOT require consumer support for Cookies in order to function correctly.
R1123 The value of the cookie MUST be considered to be opaque by the CONSUMER.
The Profile recommends that cookies not be required by instances for proper operation; they should be a hint, to be used for optimization, without materially affecting the execution of the Web service. However, they may be required in legacy integration and other exceptional use cases, so requiring them does not make an instance non-conformant. While Cookies thus may have meaning to the instance, they should not be used as an out-of-bound data channel between the instance and the consumer. Therefore, interpretation of Cookies is not allowed at all by the consumer - it is required to treat them as opaque (i.e., have no meaning to the consumer).
WS-Addressing response EPR (wsa:FaultTo and wsa:ReplyTo) values affect how and where the response message is sent in a Request-Response WSDL transmission primitive. Specifically:
wsa:Address property, the response is sent in the entity body of the HTTP response message, as specified in SOAP 1.1 Section 6.wsa:Address property:
wsa:FaultTo for faults and wsa:ReplyTo for non-fault messages) response EPR. Both the HTTP connections, for the request message and response message as described by the WSDL Request-Response operation, use the SOAP 1.1 Request Optional Response HTTP binding. The request message and the response message, as described by the WSDL Request-Response operation, are sent in the entity-body of the HTTP request in two separate connections.R1150 If an INSTANCE sends a MustUnderstand or VersionMismatch fault generated as a result of an invocation of a Request-Response WSDL operation, it MUST send that fault in the entity body of HTTP response using the same HTTP connection as the request message of that operation.
R1151
If an INSTANCE sends a response which is neither a MustUnderstand nor VersionMismatch fault as a result of an invocation of a Request-Response WSDL operation and the response EPR has a non-anonymous wsa:Address value, then the response MUST be sent in the entity body of an HTTP request in a separate HTTP connection specified by the response EPR using the SOAP 1.1 Request Optional Response HTTP binding.
The Profile uses Web Services Description Language (WSDL) to enable the description of services as sets of endpoints operating on messages.
This section of the Profile incorporates the following specifications by reference, and defines extensibility points within them:
An instance of a Web service is required to make the contract that it operates under available in some fashion.
R0001 Either an INSTANCE's WSDL 1.1 description, its UDDI binding template, or both MUST be available to an authorized consumer upon request.
This means that if an authorized consumer requests a service description of a conformant service instance, then the service instance provider must make the WSDL document, the UDDI binding template, or both available to that consumer. A service instance may provide run-time access to WSDL documents from a server, but is not required to do so in order to be considered conformant. Similarly, a service instance provider may register the instance provider in a UDDI registry, but is not required to do so to be considered conformant. In all of these scenarios, the WSDL contract must exist, but might be made available through a variety of mechanisms, depending on the circumstances.
This section of the Profile incorporates the following specifications by reference:
WSDL 1.1 defines an XML-based structure for describing Web services. The Profile mandates the use of that structure, and places the following constraints on its use:
The normative schemas for WSDL appearing in Appendix 4 of the WSDL 1.1 specification have inconsistencies with the normative text of the specification. The Profile references new schema documents that have incorporated fixes for known errors.
R2028 A DESCRIPTION using the WSDL namespace (prefixed "wsdl" in this Profile) MUST be valid according to the XML Schema found at "http://ws-i.org/profiles/basic/1.1/wsdl-2004-08-24.xsd".
R2029 A DESCRIPTION using the WSDL SOAP binding namespace (prefixed "soapbind" in this Profile) MUST be valid according to the XML Schema found at "http://ws-i.org/profiles/basic/1.1/wsdlsoap-2004-08-24.xsd".
Although the Profile requires WSDL descriptions to be Schema valid, it does not require consumers to validate WSDL documents. It is the responsibility of a WSDL document's author to assure that it is Schema valid.
Some examples in WSDL 1.1 incorrectly show the WSDL import statement being used to import XML Schema definitions. The Profile clarifies use of the import mechanisms to keep them consistent and confined to their respective domains. Imported schema documents are also constrained by XML version and encoding requirements consistent to those of the importing WSDL documents.
R2001 A DESCRIPTION MUST only use the WSDL "import" statement to import another WSDL description.
R2803
In a DESCRIPTION, the namespace attribute of the wsdl:import MUST NOT be a relative URI.
R2002 To import XML Schema Definitions, a DESCRIPTION MUST use the XML Schema "import" statement.
R2003
A DESCRIPTION MUST use the XML Schema "import" statement only within the xsd:schema
element of the types section.
R2004 In a DESCRIPTION the schemaLocation attribute of an xsd:import element MUST NOT resolve to any document whose root element is not "schema" from the namespace "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema".
R2009 An XML Schema directly or indirectly imported by a DESCRIPTION MAY include the Unicode Byte Order Mark (BOM).
R2010 An XML Schema directly or indirectly imported by a DESCRIPTION MUST use either UTF-8 or UTF-16 encoding.
R2011 An XML Schema directly or indirectly imported by a DESCRIPTION MUST use version 1.0 of the eXtensible Markup Language W3C Recommendation.
INCORRECT:
<definitions name="StockQuote"
targetNamespace="http://example.com/stockquote/definitions"
xmlns:xsd1="http://example.com/stockquote/schemas"
...
xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/">
<import namespace="http://example.com/stockquote/schemas"
location="http://example.com/stockquote/stockquote.xsd"/>
<message name="GetLastTradePriceInput">
<part name="body" element="xsd1:TradePriceRequest"/>
</message>
...
</definitions>
CORRECT:
<definitions name="StockQuote"
targetNamespace="http://example.com/stockquote/definitions"
...
xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/">
<import namespace="http://example.com/stockquote/definitions"
location="http://example.com/stockquote/stockquote.wsdl"/>
<message name="GetLastTradePriceInput">
<part name="body" element="..."/>
</message>
...
</definitions>
CORRECT:
<definitions name="StockQuote"
targetNamespace="http://example.com/stockquote/"
xmlns:xsd1="http://example.com/stockquote/schemas"
...
xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/">
<import namespace="http://example.com/stockquote/definitions"
location="http://example.com/stockquote/stockquote.wsdl"/>
<message name="GetLastTradePriceInput">
<part name="body" element="xsd1:TradePriceRequest"/>
</message>
...
</definitions>
WSDL 1.1 is not clear about whether the location attribute of the
wsdl:import statement is required, or what its content is required to be.
R2007
A DESCRIPTION MUST specify a non-empty location attribute on the
wsdl:import element.
Although the wsdl:import statement is modeled after the
xsd:import statement, the location attribute is required by
wsdl:import while the corresponding attribute on xsd:import,
schemaLocation is optional. Consistent with location being
required, its content is not intended to be empty.
WSDL 1.1 is unclear about whether WSDL processors must actually retrieve and process the
WSDL document from the URI specified in the location attribute on the wsdl:import
statements it encounters.
R2008
A CONSUMER MAY, but need not, retrieve a WSDL description from the URI specified in the location attribute on a wsdl:import element.
C
The value of the location attribute of a wsdl:import element is a hint. A WSDL processor may have other ways of locating a WSDL description for a given namespace.
Example 3 in WSDL 1.1 Section 3.1 causes confusion regarding the placement of
wsdl:import.
R2022
When they appear in a DESCRIPTION,
wsdl:import elements MUST precede all other elements from the WSDL
namespace except wsdl:documentation.
R2023
When they appear in a DESCRIPTION,
wsdl:types elements MUST precede all other elements from the WSDL
namespace except wsdl:documentation and wsdl:import.
INCORRECT:
<definitions name="StockQuote"
...
xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/">
<import namespace="http://example.com/stockquote/definitions"
location="http://example.com/stockquote/stockquote.wsdl"/>
<message name="GetLastTradePriceInput">
<part name="body" type="tns:TradePriceRequest"/>
</message>
...
<service name="StockQuoteService">
<port name="StockQuotePort" binding="tns:StockQuoteSoap">
....
</port>
</service>
<types>
<schema targetNamespace="http://example.com/stockquote/schemas"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
.......
</schema>
</types>
</definitions>
CORRECT:
<definitions name="StockQuote"
targetNamespace="http://example.com/stockquote/definitions">
<import namespace="http://example.com/stockquote/base"
location="http://example.com/stockquote/stockquote.wsdl"/>
<message name="GetLastTradePriceInput">
<part name="body" element="..."/>
</message>
...
</definitions>
CORRECT:
<definitions name="StockQuote"
...
xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/">
<types>
<schema targetNamespace="http://example.com/stockquote/schemas"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
.......
</schema>
</types>
<message name="GetLastTradePriceInput">
<part name="body" element="tns:TradePriceRequest"/>
</message>
...
<service name="StockQuoteService">
<port name="StockQuotePort" binding="tns:StockQuoteSoap">
....
</port>
</service>
</definitions>
Neither WSDL 1.1 nor XML Schema 1.0 mandate a particular version of XML. For interoperability, WSDL documents and the schemas they import expressed in XML must use version 1.0.
R4004 A DESCRIPTION MUST use version 1.0 of the eXtensible Markup Language W3C Recommendation.
Although published errata NE05 (see http://www.w3.org/XML/xml-names-19990114-errata) allows this namespace declaration to appear, some older processors considered such a declaration to be an error. This requirement ensures that conformant artifacts have the broadest interoperability possible.