SOAP API calls

Using Postman REST client, I helped a DS fellow connect with his data source. We didn’t know that SOAP calls needed to be of the POST type, but once we figured out what had to be sent to receive data, it was pretty easy.

SOAP, originally an acronym for Simple Object Access Protocol, is a protocol specification that uses the XML format.

SOAP is known to be more heavyweight than REST (your typical JSON APIs) because it needs extra handshaking protocols to fully know who’s talking to who.

So how does the handshaking look like..

The server-side should have docs explaining what they’d like to receive from clients. From your client side, you want to send raw xml/html with the HTTP headers to the server. This is a lot like those underground clubs that require a secret passcode to enter.

Now with this NJ Transit station list, we can get the train schedule for one specific station! See on the right the example of SOAP docs. See how the arrows correspond where the information should be placed on the left.