You can associate a SOAP message with one or more attachments in
their native format (for example GIF or JPEG) by using a multipart
MIME structure for transport. There are two core standards that define
how to do this:
- SOAP Messages with Attachments
W3C Note. This document defines specific use of the Multipart/Related
MIME media type, and rules for the use of URI references to refer
to entities bundled within the MIME package. It outlines a technique
for a SOAP 1.1 message to be carried within a MIME multipart/related
message in such a way that the SOAP processing rules for a standard
SOAP message are not changed.
- Web Services-Interoperability (WS-I)
Attachments Profile Version 1.0. This profile compliments the
WS-I Basic Profile 1.1 to add support for conveying interoperable
attachments with SOAP messages. There are two main parts to this profile:
- An introduction to the XML Schema type swaref (SOAP
with attachments reference). This is used to define content within
the SOAP body that refers to attachments within the message.
- A definition of how a WSDL message part that is bound to a MIME
attachment is encoded into the SOAP message.
The service integration bus supports both
of these standards, subject to the restrictions detailed in Limitations in the support for SOAP with attachments.