Comments on: The rest of the soap http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/05/12/the-rest-of-the-soap/ Genealogy anywhere. Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:57:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0 by: Richard K Miller http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/05/12/the-rest-of-the-soap/#comment-158 Tue, 16 May 2006 06:48:29 +0000 http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/05/12/the-rest-of-the-soap/#comment-158 REST is easier to use since you can test queries in your browser and you don't usually need any special libraries to access REST services. SOAP is more complicated. In PHP it requires PHP 5 or the NuSOAP library. But once I got it, after a steeper learning curve, it seemed more magical. Yahoo uses REST in (almost?) all of its web services. I particularly like that you can append "&output=php" and it will return a string of character that you can unserialize() into an array. It makes it almost like SOAP but much much easier. REST is easier to use since you can test queries in your browser and you don’t usually need any special libraries to access REST services.

SOAP is more complicated. In PHP it requires PHP 5 or the NuSOAP library. But once I got it, after a steeper learning curve, it seemed more magical.

Yahoo uses REST in (almost?) all of its web services. I particularly like that you can append “&output=php” and it will return a string of character that you can unserialize() into an array. It makes it almost like SOAP but much much easier.

]]> by: Logan Allred http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/05/12/the-rest-of-the-soap/#comment-156 Sun, 14 May 2006 15:11:53 +0000 http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/05/12/the-rest-of-the-soap/#comment-156 I found some links: http://www.theserverside.com/talks/index.tss (Ted Neward, down the page a little) http://www.intertwingly.net/stories/2002/07/20/restSoap.html I also have slides from a presentation I attended by Ted Neward where he goes more in depth. I'll shoot those to you in email once I find them. I found some links:

http://www.theserverside.com/talks/index.tss (Ted Neward, down the page a little)

http://www.intertwingly.net/stories/2002/07/20/restSoap.html

I also have slides from a presentation I attended by Ted Neward where he goes more in depth. I’ll shoot those to you in email once I find them.

]]> by: Ben http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/05/12/the-rest-of-the-soap/#comment-154 Sat, 13 May 2006 15:27:29 +0000 http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/05/12/the-rest-of-the-soap/#comment-154 The place I think I got the idea that RoR is more SOAPy was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_on_rails" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a>: <blockquote> In addition to this, Rails also offers some other modules, like Action Mailer for sending email and Action Web Service for SOAP and XML-RPC support. </blockquote> Regardless, I really like that idea of wrapping the REST service in a SOAP envelope. I wonder if Flickr does that... If you do find a link (I couldn't find one either), let me know. The place I think I got the idea that RoR is more SOAPy was Wikipedia:

In addition to this, Rails also offers some other modules, like Action Mailer for sending email and Action Web Service for SOAP and XML-RPC support.

Regardless, I really like that idea of wrapping the REST service in a SOAP envelope. I wonder if Flickr does that… If you do find a link (I couldn’t find one either), let me know.

]]> by: Logan Allred http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/05/12/the-rest-of-the-soap/#comment-153 Sat, 13 May 2006 15:04:22 +0000 http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/05/12/the-rest-of-the-soap/#comment-153 Just to clarify, I should've send SOAP envelope instead of SOAP header. Just to clarify, I should’ve send SOAP envelope instead of SOAP header.

]]> by: Logan Allred http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/05/12/the-rest-of-the-soap/#comment-152 Sat, 13 May 2006 14:56:13 +0000 http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/05/12/the-rest-of-the-soap/#comment-152 Interesting, I always got the impression that Ruby on Rails was very much focused on REST. I really haven't looked at their web services, so maybe I'm confusing their RESTful web preferences with their web service structure. Anyway, I've always liked Ted Newards somewhat pragmatic approach to this. I can't find a working link right now, but his basic point is to take your REST services and wrap them in a SOAP header. It's easy for non-SOAP folks to just unwrap the header and grab the content, and SOAP folks can just consume it. I've never tried it in practice, but it sounds feasible. Interesting, I always got the impression that Ruby on Rails was very much focused on REST. I really haven’t looked at their web services, so maybe I’m confusing their RESTful web preferences with their web service structure.

Anyway, I’ve always liked Ted Newards somewhat pragmatic approach to this. I can’t find a working link right now, but his basic point is to take your REST services and wrap them in a SOAP header. It’s easy for non-SOAP folks to just unwrap the header and grab the content, and SOAP folks can just consume it. I’ve never tried it in practice, but it sounds feasible.

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