The root class for all SOAP messages. As transmitted on the "wire", a SOAP message is an XML document or a MIME message whose first body part is an XML/SOAP document.

A SOAPMessage object consists of a SOAP part and optionally one or more attachment parts. The SOAP part for a SOAPMessage object is a SOAPPart object, which contains information used for message routing and identification, and which can contain application-specific content. All data in the SOAP Part of a message must be in XML format.

A new SOAPMessage object contains the following by default:

• A SOAPPart object
• A SOAPEnvelope object
• A SOAPBody object
• A SOAPHeader object

 SOAPPart sp = message.getSOAPPart();
 SOAPEnvelope se = sp.getEnvelope();
 SOAPBody sb = se.getBody();
 SOAPHeader sh = se.getHeader();
 

In addition to the mandatory SOAPPart object, a SOAPMessage object may contain zero or more AttachmentPart objects, each of which contains application-specific data. The SOAPMessage interface provides methods for creating AttachmentPart objects and also for adding them to a SOAPMessage object. A party that has received a SOAPMessage object can examine its contents by retrieving individual attachment parts.

Unlike the rest of a SOAP message, an attachment is not required to be in XML format and can therefore be anything from simple text to an image file. Consequently, any message content that is not in XML format must be in an AttachmentPart object.

A MessageFactory object creates new SOAPMessage objects. If the MessageFactory object was initialized with a messaging Profile, it produces SOAPMessage objects that conform to that Profile. For example, a SOAPMessage object created by a MessageFactory object initialized with the ebXML Profile will have the appropriate ebXML headers.