Overview of SOAP Sessions

Overview of SOAP Sessions

You can maintain a session between a web client and an InterSystems IRIS web service. This support consists of the following tools:

• Web session management (managed by InterSystems IRIS and by the InterSystems Web Gateway).

• The InterSystems IRIS SOAP session header, which is a simple proprietary header.

The overall flow is as follows:

1. The web client sends an initial message to the web service. This message does not include the InterSystems IRIS SOAP session header.

2. The web service receives the message and starts a new web session.

3. When the web service sends its reply, it adds the InterSystems IRIS SOAP session header to the message.

4. When the web client receives the reply, it must detect the SOAP session header and extract the session cookie. Then when the web client sends another message, it must use the cookie to create a SOAP session header in that message.

   Note:

   • If the client is an InterSystems IRIS web client, the session cookie is saved automatically in the SessionCookie property of web client. Also, the client instance automatically creates the SOAP session header and includes it in all messages that it sends.

   • This step also happens automatically for .NET web clients, if the same client instance is used for all SOAP messages in the session. You may need further code for other client platforms.

5. The web service receives the next reply, continues the web session, and includes the SOAP session header again when it responds.

It is not necessary to include a method to log out. The web session times out after a brief interval (the timeout period for the web application).