Jim Webber mobilizes against SOAP action, saying we really need to get this last vestige of RPC-ness struck off.
IMO it's Jim's problem that he only sees the action parameter of the media type to be useful for RPC. Just like media types are a means of dispatch for the processing of internet documents, media type parameters can be useful for subdispatch. I think we're really missing a namespace parameter of the application/xml media type. I was there (in the XMLP WG) when this was discussed and we had strong voices for keeping SOAP action, so we moved it to the media type parameter, where it makes most sense.
C'mon Jacek nobody understands how to use it, so people end up matching it against method names. Messages should be dispatched based on their structure and content rather than some airy-fairy like action.
Posted by: Jim Webber at June 17, 2004 3:16 PMYes, few people understand it and therefore it cannot be used interoperably, but in fact, it doesn't need to be used interoperably, does it? It's a one-side thing - the server tells the client what URI to send it with messages and then uses it as it wishes. Personally, I'd make my action URIs equal to the concatenation of the namespace and the name of the first child of Body, which could simplify processing routes in some cases. I'd also be happy to see this thing go, but I don't think it does harm and if someone else finds it useful, why remove it? 8-)
Posted by: Jacek at June 17, 2004 3:27 PM