Based on the source and target definitions, you can receive and send an attachment as part of the SOAP request. The attachment must be a text file such as an XML document. You cannot attach binary documents such as JPEG, GIF, or PDF files. For example, you can extract an XML document from an Oracle database and pass it to a web service client as an attachment to a response message.

To use a binary file as a source, convert the file into hexbinary or base64binary before you pass it to the web service source. A hexbinary or base64binary files is treated as a text file. Similarly, you can convert the text file response generated by the web service target to a binary file.

The following table describes the attachment group ports in a web service definition: