FYPFinalReportv100 - page 28 of 109

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FYP Final Report v1.0.0

to communicate with each other. SOAP is so dynamically applicable simply because it is built

using XML. Thus, SOAP inherits all the goodness of XML.

Another very crucial information of which will reinforce the usability of SOAP is that SOAP uses

HTTP as its communication channel. HTTP is, by far, the most widely used communication

protocol in the Internet. When one disables HTTP at the server, a large portion of ‘having a server’

is gone. HTML and XHTML use HTTP to communicate and work. SOAP just steps right in and

share the ‘friendship’ without a hassle.

3.4.2.1 Components of SOAP

According to SOAP specification at http://www.w3.org.TR/SOAP, there are three main part of

SOAP; an envelope, the encoding rules that governs how data and commands are represented as

XML and a means for SOAP to communicate with its objects, specifically the request and response

model. These three items forms a SOAP message. To further explain what a SOAP message is, it

is best if we visualize how we prepare and send a mail.

Figure 7: A SOAP Message consists of an envelope, an encoded message and headers.

To send an ordinary mail, one needs an envelope to contain the letter. On the envelope will be the

addresses of both parties; the sender and the receiver. Inside the envelope is the message. With

a postage stamp affixed on it, one can go to send this letter to any corners of the world.

The envelope serves as the container to store the message. In the context of SOAP, this envelope

is represented in the XML tag <SOAP:Envelope>…</SOAP:Envelope>. SOAP

envelope is a container or wrapper for the rest of the SOAP message and lets whoever receives

this message know what or who they are corresponding with. An example of a SOAP envelope is

shown in Snippet 3.

TO: Multimedia University,

Jalan Ayer Keorh Lama,

75450 Bukit Beruang,

Malacca, Malaysia.

Envelope

Headers

Hospital Putrajaya,

Presint 7,

62502 Putrajaya,

Selangor,

Malaysia.

Ref: 03200304

Dear Sir/madam,

Re: Application for Gathering Data/Information

I would wish to apply for the permission from you to visit Hospital Putrajaya to gather some information on how to health

records are kept, processed and shared to the health care personnel in this hospital. I am a year three student of Faculty of

Information, Science and Technology (FIST) of Multimedia University (MMU), Melaka Campus who is doing my final year

project entitled: XML Web Services in Telemedicine. I am a member of a group of three and my other two teammates are Lim

Cheng Yong and Ng Ruenn Shy.

I need to gather this information to shed some light on how to design a prototype for my project which can adapt into the

current information system used by the hospital efficiently and economically. The information required will be in terms on

how doctors interact with each other, how medical records are kept in computers/servers, its display interfaces and the general

architecture of the underlying hardware/software that supports the whole system.

My final year project deals with XML web services which make use of eXtensible Markup Language (XML) to expand the

coverage of medical information database support to a wider geographical range with disregard of the client devices used to

interact with the system. I am required to simulate this proposed solution using real world data to proof that my hypothesis of

using XML web services is financially feasible and technologically viable in adapting to the current system with minimum

upgrades.

Finally, I hope you can grant me the permission to gather information regarding how information system is used in the hospital.

The information gathered will be used solely for research only and will not be disclosed to the public. I am contended in using

obsolete data if the hospital is unable to provide me with the most current data. I hope I can receive your favourable response

by 3rd January 2004.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Approved by,

_______________

_________________

(TIE SING CHIE)

IIIIIIIO OOOOO OOOOOO

(HASNAIN ZAFAR BALOCH)

Student,

Encoded Message