Microsoft unveils new Soap-based tools

Microsoft has released two new tools which it said will enable developers to create web services more easily using existing internet technologies.

The tools, based on Microsoft's Simple Object Access Protocol (Soap) standard, will make it easier and cheaper for web developers to build and write applications for the internet.

Soap is the technology which specifies exactly how to encode an HTTP header and an XML file so that a program in one computer can communicate with a program in another.

The first tool is the beta release of the Microsoft Soap Toolkit Version 2.0, which provides developers using Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 with rapid web services development capabilities for production-ready applications.

It will work with operating systems including Windows 2000, NT 4.0, 98 and Me, and will be fully supported by Microsoft Product Support Services.

The second tool is the Web Services Behaviour for the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser software, enabling developers to aggregate web services from multiple web pages.

Both the beta release of the Microsoft Soap Toolkit Version 2.0 and the Web Services Behaviour for Internet Explorer 5.0 are available for free download (connect-time charges may apply) at http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/soap.