1. REST vs SOAP
Javier Álvarez
EEDC – March 5th 2012

2. Web Services
● W3C: “a software system designed to
support interoperable machine-to-
machine interaction over a network”
● HTTP is the most used protocol in WS
● Two main WS architectures:
– REST & SOAP

3. Overview
REST SOAP
● Remote operations are ● Remote operations are
performed over a resource: performed over a URL:
http://www.example.com/books/book_1 http://www.example.com/getBook
● Def ned by standard HTTP
i ● Always makes use of POST
methods (GET, POST, PUT method
and DELETE)
● Input and output data is ● Input and output data is
usually represented in XML represented in XML
(also JSON) (encapsulated)

4. SOAP Request
POST /InStock HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.org
Content-Type: application/soap+xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 299
SOAPAction: "http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope"
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope">
<soap:Header>
</soap:Header>
<soap:Body>
<m:GetStockPrice xmlns:m="http://www.example.org/stock">
<m:StockName>IBM</m:StockName>
</m:GetStockPrice>
</soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

5. REST Request
GET /stock/IBM HTTP 1.1
Host: www.example.org
Content-Type: application/xml
Content-Length: 0

6. Conclusion
REST is:
– Simpler
– More f exible
l
– More secure
It's an easy choice!