4th Dimension 2003 and later support publishing methods as Web services and allow any Web services enabled application, tool, or development environment to integrate 4th Dimension methods by sending SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) messages to the native 4th Dimension Web server. SOAP messages follow strict XML formatting and data encoding rules defined in a series of lengthy interlocking standards. By default, the 4th Dimension Web service publishing system handles all of the complexities of parsing, navigating, and converting values between XML and 4th Dimension's native data types. There are times, however, when developers may need, or prefer to read SOAP messages directly, including when:

- Debugging SOAP exchanges
- Logging SOAP requests
- Reading SOAP inputs not automatically bound to 4th Dimension parameters, variables, or arrays
- Distinguishing between inputs that are passed with an empty value and inputs that are not present in the request
- Parsing requests directly with 4th Dimension's native DOM Parse XML variable command or a third-party XML parser
- Learning more about the structure and contents of SOAP requests
- Gaining a deeper understanding of 4th Dimension's SOAP serving features

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