In the realm of web services, SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) remains a pivotal protocol for exchanging structured information in a decentralized, distributed environment. Although REST APIs have gained prominence for their simplicity and scalability, SOAP APIs are still widely used, particularly in enterprise and financial applications, due to their robustness, security, and standardization. This article will guide you through the basics of interacting with SOAP APIs using Zeep, a modern Python SOAP client.
Understanding SOAP APIs
SOAP is a protocol or standard for sending and receiving web service requests and responses. SOAP messages are formatted in XML and can be transported via various protocols such as HTTP, SMTP, etc. A key component of a SOAP message is the envelope, which encapsulates the entire message and includes an optional header for transmitting application-specific information and a mandatory body that contains the request or response information.
WSDL (Web Services Description Language) is an XML-based interface definition language that describes the functionality offered by a web service. It provides a machine-readable description of how the service can be called, what parameters it expects, and what data structures it returns. Zeep uses the WSDL to generate Python…
