You can receive or send data as an attachment to a SOAP message request or response. The source or target can be a flat file or an XML document. For example, you periodically use FTP to access a flat file containing messages from a web service application. Instead of using FTP, you can create a web service workflow to receive the data from the flat file as an attachment to a SOAP request.

To receive data as attachment to a SOAP message request, use a flat file or XML source definition in the mapping. To use a flat file as a source for a web service, configure the reader to use a Web Services Provider Reader for Flat Files. Edit the web service session that runs the mapping. In the session properties, click the Mapping tab and select the source. Change the reader from Flat File Reader to Web Services Provider Reader for Flat Files.

To send data as attachment to a SOAP message response, use a flat file or XML target definition in the mapping. To use a flat file as a target for a web service, configure the writer to use a Web Services Provider Writer for Flat Files. Edit the web service session that runs the mapping. In the session properties, click the Mapping tab and select the target. Change the writer from Flat File Writer to Web Services Provider Writer for Flat Files.