HTTP Binding

The HTTP extensibility elements for binding abstract WSDL messages to HTTP messages fall into several sections. Each section signifies how the binding should occur. At the binding level, the configuration applies to the entire port type. At the operation level, the configuration applies only to the operation. At the message level, the configuration applies to that particular message, regardless of whether it is input or output.

The HTTP Binding Element

The purpose of the HTTP binding element is to signify that the binding is bound to the HTTP protocol.

The HTTP Binding Element Attributes

The HTTP binding element MUST be present when using the HTTP binding. The following example illustrates the HTTP binding element:

<definitions .... >
    <binding .... >
        <http:binding verb="nmtoken" />
    </binding>
</definitions>

The value of the required verb attribute indicates the HTTP verb. Common values are GET or POST, but others may be used. Note that HTTP verbs are case sensitive.

The HTTP Operation Element

The purpose of the HTTP operation element is to provide binding information from the abstract operation to the concrete HTTP operation.

The HTTP Operation Element Attributes

The following example illustrates the WSDL operation element:

<definitions .... >
    <binding .... >
        <operation .... >
           <soap:operation location="uri" />
        </operation>
    </binding>
</definitions>

The location attribute specifies a relative URI for the operation. This URI is combined with the URI specified in the http:address element to form the full URI for the HTTP request. The URI value MUST be a relative URI.

The HTTP urlEncoded Element

The urlEncoded element indicates that all of the message parts are encoded into the HTTP request URI using the standard URI-encoding rules (name1=value&name2=value...). The names of the parameters correspond to the names of the message parts. Each value contributed by the part is encoded using a name=value pair. This may be used with GET to specify URL encoding, or with POST to specify a FORM-POST. For GET, the “?” character is automatically appended as necessary.

Example:

<definitions .... >
    <binding .... >
        <operation .... >
           <input .... >
               <http:urlEncoded/>
           </input>
           <output .... >
               <-- mime elements -->
           </output>
        </operation>
    </binding>
</definitions>

The HTTP urlReplacement Element

The urlReplacement element indicates that all the message parts are encoded into the HTTP request URI using a replacement algorithm:

• The relative URI value of http:operation is searched for a set of search patterns

• The search occurs before the value of the http:operation is combined with the value of the location attribute from http:address

• There is one search pattern for each message part. The search pattern string is the name of the message part surrounded with parenthesis “(“ and ”)”

• For each match, the value of the corresponding message part is substituted for the match at the location of the match

• Matches are performed before any values are replaced (replaced values do not trigger additional matches)

Message parts MUST NOT have repeating values.

The HTTP urlReplacement Elements

Example:

<definitions .... >
    <binding .... >
        <operation .... >
           <input .... >
               <http:urlReplacement/>
           </input>
           <output .... >
               <-- mime elements -->
           </output>
        </operation>
    </binding>
</definitions>