Regarding the Soap Message

[KrishnaPrasad raghavan]

Hi,

I would like to know if the Soap message is simply a string that is converted into a byte array and sent across the Http or is it a SOAP Object which is then serialized into a Byte array. Lets say for instance, I have the following code.

String message = buildSoapMessage();  

This returns me the complete SOAP Message. For example
<SOAP-ENV:Envelope..
...
><SOAP-ENV:Envelope/>
and I convert the String to a byte array,

  
byte[] byteMessage = message.getBytes();

I have sent this byte message to a Web service consumer using a http connection and seen a proper response coming back. So I assume the message can simple be a string which then gets converted into a byte array.
We don't really have to convert the message to a SOAPMessage ??.

   
  MessageFactory mf = MessageFactory.newInstance();
  SOAPMessage sm = mf.createMessage();

Please let me know if my understanding is correct.

[Jimmy Clark]

A "SOAP message" is just an XML-based group of text characters organized in a specifc way. It is not a Java object.
A programmer can create a "SOAP message" with shell script commands, a text editor, COBOL code, Java code, Perl code, etc.
When a "SOAP message" is sent it is converted to bytes. The XML-based text is converted to bytes, not a Java object.

MessageFactory mf = MessageFactory.newInstance();   
SOAPMessage sm = mf.createMessage();  

These statements are code that help create "SOAP messages." They are not the required for anything and simply present one option for generating a "SOAP message" with an object-oriented program.