Soap?

Anyone knows about SOAP??
What's it and how it is used...?
Thanx

After having search on the ms.com

What i know
SOAP is a lightweight protocol which provides with the facility of sharing Data-types (I may say Object) over the network..
It is an XML-based protocol
It runs on HTTP, SMTP,TCP etc...
It is used to share data between WebServices

My Questions are..
Where does it reside???
With Browser? With Web Server??
Does it need any server like MTS?
how the transfer of Objects is managed?
Can it share the Data Between Web Services and Windows Services?
I also read that it is just specification.. how would it be implemented?? I mean in what form? what language?

I don't much about SOAP either (except in the shower) but I think it uses the XML Parser and is a format like XML. In VB.NET you can use SOAP attributes like XML Attributes adn serialize a class to SOAP like XML. I'm not sure what the difference is. I know you can use it outside of the web.

I think I'm going to have to subscribe to this thread so I can learn what it is too.

So.. After having more reading i got some answers myself
1. It is just the specification so doesn't need to reside anywhere..
2. It just TRAVELS via Http.. any browser which can get HTTP data :D can get SOAP data...There anything (like Applet or ActiveX Control) can make use of this data..
3. It seems to be the replacement of RPC(Remote Procedure CAll) and DCOM...
4. DCOM needs a lot on the User side and is not practically useful over the net..SOAP doesn't need anything !!! Hey it's just a specification
5. Only detail of any component is sent via SOAP..it's lifetime, scope things are not dealt with by SOAP.. A SOAP Message contains Envelop, Header and Body.. all of these contain the Properties, methods, arguments and (maybe) return type
6. Yes it can be used to share data b/w Web and Windows Services..
And if i didn't misread.. it can make the communication b/w a COM and CORBA component:eek:
And it must be implemented by SOMEONE...it doesn't say about platform, language etc... Just implement it.. either in VB.Net, C#, JAva, Perl, or JApanses:D

So what are the advantages of it over XML? Or is it not a competing standard just another standard I guess. So I am assuming that SOAP is used a lot behind the scenes in .NET.

Go there...

http://www.develop.com/soap/soapfaq.htm#12

Think of SOAP as the Web replacement of DCOM.

It is just a protocol that travels to port 80 bypassing firewalls. There are 3 methods to invoke and communicate with an XML Web service...HTTP-GET, HTTP-POST and SOAP

It is self-describing via XML style with a Header and an Envelope.

If you want to use an XML web service from a VB6 Application, use SOAP

Download the SOAP Toolkit 2 or 3 from MS Website