API Web Services Beginner Tutorial 4 – What are SOAP Web Services
SOAP API vs. REST API
Representational state transfer (REST) is another popular API. SOAP API and REST API have similar functionalities, as they both work and use different tools to communicate. REST API is an architectural style thats easy to use, while SOAP API is a more complex protocol. Though the two compete in standards, its possible to build a REST API while using SOAP protocols. The major differences between SOAP and REST include:
What is SOAP API?
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is a standard messaging protocol for operating services like Windows and Linux to communicate via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Extensible Markup Language (XML). SOAP is an Application Programming Interface (API), which is a system that allows applications to interact. SOAP APIs can create, update, delete and recover records such as passwords, accounts and custom objects.
SOAP API is extensible, neutral and independent. This allows API developers to maintain accounts and run searches using all programming languages supported by web services. Web protocols like HTTP can install and run on all operating systems, so with SOAP, you can receive responses independent of the language or platform. SOAP messages are XML documents that include coding and tag elements like:
When to use SOAP
While many software companies provide easy-to-use tools for their clients to organize business processes, some organizations have their own complex processes that arent supported by existing technology. Developers can use SOAP to build custom functionalities for individual organizations.
When developers are working on custom objects, accounts or leads, they can use SOAP to create, update, retrieve or delete records. SOAP API has over 20 different calls that allow you to maintain passwords, perform searches and complete other tasks. It can also use any language that supports web services, meaning that web developers who use a range of languages can work with this API.
Benefits of using SOAP
While every organization prefers REST API or SOAP API, some benefits of using SOAP include:
FAQ
What is SOAP API used for?
What is SOAP API and REST API?
For example, a SOAP API that exposes functionality to create a user might include a function called “CreateUser” that would be specified in the SOAP body. A REST API would instead expose a URL /users, and a POST request towards that URL would create a user.
What is difference between SOAP & REST API?
What is SOAP API type?
