Scmbug

[Jeroen Ruigrok/asmodai]

-On [20040601 18:22], Tom Emerson (tree at basistech.com) wrote:
>This is where having an XML-RPC or SOAP interface to Bugzilla
>functionality would be a Big Win: external tools could work with
>Bugzilla nicely without having to track changes to the schemata.

Just for educating the people on the list (heck, I haven't done anything
with either SOAP or XML-RPC yet) just what the differences are between the
two:

How does XML-RPC differ from SOAP?

o SOAP is asynchronous, XML-RPC is not 
o SOAP supports request routing and pre-processing of requests via SOAP
  headers 
o XML-RPC is lighter, taking up less bandwith, and requiring less processing
  power 
o SOAP is namespace-aware (in fact every element must be namespace-qualified) 
o SOAP has a heavy-weight, robust data typing mechanism based on XML Schemas 
o XML-RPC is easily sent and consumed, and is easily readable by humans 
o SOAP messages have a considerable amount of packaging contained in the
  envelope, but this allows for flexibility in the messaging paradigm used
  (publish-subscribe, point-to-point, etc.)

When should I use XML-RPC vs using SOAP?

Use XML-RPC when... 

o Speed is of greater importance than flexibility 
o Memory usage is a critical factor 
o Program size must be very small ( < 8kb ) 
o The data being exchanged is simple, or at very least the relationships
  between the data are simple 
o You need a neutral, standardized, lightweight mechanism for exchanging data,
  or remotely invoking some network service 

Use SOAP when... 

o Flexibility and a robust feature-set are a high priority 
o Program size and memory usage are less important than advanced networking
  features 
o The data being exchanged is complicated, the relationships between the data
  are complicated, or is it important to define custom data types 
o If you are uncertain which protocol will be used by potential clients and
  partners (SOAP is more popular, and thus a better bet in an uncertain
  situation)

(source: http://kxmlrpc.enhydra.org/project/faq/)

Furthermore: see http://www.xmlrpc.com/ and http://www.soaprpc.com/
Apache supports both XML-RPC as well as SOAP: http://ws.apache.org/xmlrpc/
http://ws.apache.org/soap/

-- 
Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven <asmodai(at)wxs.nl> / asmodai / kita no mono
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