Lessons With SOAP & AJAX

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SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), allows for easy communication across the Web among different applications. SOAP does not have a designated platform or language and is based on XML (eXtensible Markup Language that provides a structure to describe data at any level of complexity). SOAP was created to accomplish communication over HTTP and to support applications running on different operating systems with different technologies and programming languages. The main feature of SOAP is that it is a W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), an international community where organizations, staff and the public collaborate to develop and enhance the growth of the Web.

The advantages of using SOAP are that the original metadata of an XML message is imbedded into an envelope, which helps a Web service to process the messages easily Communication is easily transferred through firewalls and is versatile in using several different transport protocols . The disadvantages are that SOAP is difficult to verify and validate XML messages that transfer between different Web applications. Because various XML applications are being used in the progression, SOAP can take longer to process. Not all languages offer appropriate support and there is difficulty in knowing if the method being used is appropriate to the operation.

AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML), made up of Javascripts that are small bits of programming information, run within a web page without having to go back to the original server to reload the page. It is also much quicker to process information. AJAX exchanges data with a service and updates it on the web page without the hassle of retrieving the new information and refreshing the page. AJAX utilizes an interface where users operate the system like an application rather than a program, which automatically refreshes the page quickly as the user proceeds from one page to the other.

Advantages of AJAX include a large bandwidth, thus the pages are able to load at a faster rate. AJAX allows information to be separated and organized into a structure on the Web page, instead of bundling data together and allowing the user to sort out the information afterwards. The disadvantages include the integration of different browsers (Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.). Dynamic pages will not refresh automatically in the browser, thus using the “back” button won’t allow the user to return to the previous page they want. IFRAMEs, however, can help overcome this issue. This application makes invisible changes that can connect to the “back” browser button history.