Soap Action and Addressing action

In WS-I version 1.1 it states

The SOAPAction header is purely a hint to processors. All vital information regarding the intent of a message is carried in the envelope.

– `A HTTP request MESSAGE MUST contain a SOAPAction HTTP header field with a quoted value equal to the value of the soapAction attribute of soapbind:operation, if present in the corresponding WSDL description.`

– `A HTTP request MESSAGE MUST contain a SOAPAction HTTP header field with a quoted empty string value, if in the corresponding WSDL description, the soapAction of soapbind:operation is either not present, or present with an empty string as its value.`

Again the `Web Services Addressing 1.0 – WSDL Binding` states clearly about the explicit association between wsa:action and SOAPAction as follows

`WS-Addressing defines a global attribute, wsaw:Action, that can be used to explicitly define the value of the [action] property for messages in a WSDL description. The type of the attribute is xs:anyURI and it is used as an extension on the WSDL input, output and fault elements. A SOAP binding can specify SOAPAction values for the input messages of operations. In the absence of a wsaw:Action attribute on a WSDL input element where a SOAPAction value is specified, the value of the [action] property for the input message is the value of the SOAPAction specified. Web Services Addressing 1.0 – SOAP Binding[WS-Addressing SOAP Binding] specifies restrictions on the relationship between the values of [action] and SOAPAction for SOAP 1.1 and SOAP 1.2.

The inclusion of wsaw:Action without inclusion of wsaw:UsingAddressing has no normative intent and is only informational. In other words, the inclusion of wsaw:Action attributes in WSDL alone does not imply a requirement on clients to use Message Addressing Properties in messages it sends to the service. A client, however, MAY include Message Addressing Properties in the messages it sends, either on its own initiative or as described by other elements of the service contract, regardless of the presence or absence of wsaw:UsingAddressing. Other specifications defining the value of [action] are under no constraint to be consistent with wsaw:Action.`

http://damithakumarage.wordpress.com/2008/02/12/soap-action-and-addressing-action/