Yes, Base64 encoding increases the size of the binary data by 33% over the pure binary encoding that axis will use for multipart or DataHandler encoding.
It's a tradeoff -- use Base64 and interoperate with all SOAP clients (but increase server coding effort and message size), use DIME and interop with some, use DataHandler objects and be compatible only with java axis clients.
Which approach is best for you depends on what SOAP client toolkits your server needs to be compatible with. If you have enough control over the client side to demand that all clients be written in java and use axis (both now and in the future) then DataHandlers are worth using for the pure binary encoding vs. Base64.
---Dave
At 05:17 PM 11/11/2003 -0800, you wrote:
If I understood you correctly, you are suggesting that binary data should be encoded with Base64 inside of the SOAP message itself. Many of the articles I have read have said that Base64 encoding within the SOAP message is inefficient. For example here are two articles -
http://www.pocketsoap.com/pocketsoap/docs/master/attachments.htm http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2003/02/26/binaryxml.html
What are your comments?
