Special Edition Using SOAP

Appendix A. SOAP Data Types and Data Type Conversions

In this appendix

Data Types Overview

Complex Data Types

Differences in Implementation

Data Type Conversions

Any data exchange technology worth its salt has to include the concept of data types. SOAP is no exception. You’ll find that SOAP messages use a simple, but usable set of data types. Just how usable these data types are depends on how the SOAP toolkit you use implements them.

As I write this, there are several different prevailing views of data typing with SOAP and these views affect how SOAP toolkit vendors implement the specification. The SOAP specification doesn’t address the issue of data typing itself, but instead defers to several XML specifications. You’ll find these XML specifications ...