Special Edition Using SOAP

Data Type Conversions

As previously mentioned, strings are the easiest way to transfer data from one point to another when interoperability is the biggest concern. You shouldn’t have to resort to strings in most cases, but it’s important to know that they present the least problematic way to move data. The first data type conversion that you need to consider is moving everything to strings. Numeric data is easy to convert, but some data types are harder. For example, you’ll need to create a representation for Boolean values that the recipient won’t confuse with a standard string value.

Other data conversion issues aren’t as terrifying as converting everything to a string, but they still represent problematic situations. For example, SOAP doesn’t ...