Pass SOAP messages with attachments using WSIF

W3C SOAP Messages with Attachments describes a standard way to associate a SOAP message with one or more attachments in their native format (for example GIF or JPEG) by using a multipart MIME structure for transport. It defines specific usage of the Multipart/Related MIME media type and rules for the usage of URI references to refer to entities bundled within the MIME package. It outlines a technique for a SOAP 1.1 message to be carried within a MIME multipart/related message in such a way that the SOAP processing rules for a standard SOAP message are not changed.

WSIF supports passing attachments in a MIME message using the SOAP provider. For more information, see Use the SOAP provider. The attachment is a javax.activation.DataHandler. The mime:multipartRelated, mime:part and mime:content tags are used to describe the attachment in the WSDL.

For more information, see the following topics:

These scenarios are not supported:

Using DIME.
Passing in javax.xml.transform.Source and javax.mail.internet.MimeMultipart.
Using the mime:mimeXml WSDL tag.
Nesting a mime:multipartRelated inside a mime:part.
Using types that extend DataHandler, Image, and so forth.
Using types that contain DataHandler, Image, and so forth.
Using Arrays or Vectors of DataHandlers, Images, and so forth.
Using multiple in/out or output attachments.

The MIME headers from the incoming message are not preserved for referenced attachments. The outgoing message contains new MIME headers for Content-Type, Content-Id and Content-Transfer-Encoding that are created by WSIF.