Direct Internet Message Encapsulation

Direct Internet Message Encapsulation (DIME) is a message format proposed by Microsoft for the transmission of binary messages using SOAP . However, it has since been declared obsolete in favor of MTOM .

DIME is a compact, binary message format that can be used to group one or more application-specific information of any type and size into a single message construct. Each piece of information is described by its type, length and an optional identifier .

Both URIs and MIME media type constructs are supported as type identifiers. The payload per file length is an integer value, which indicates the number of bytes of information. The optional payload identifier is a URI that enables cross-references between attachments (files or other payloads).

DIME payloads or attachments may contain nested DIME messages or chains of linked units of unknown length at the time the data is generated. DIME is basically a message format: it does not provide a concept of connection or logic circuit, nor does it address queuing problems .

Alternatives

The W3C's recommendation for sending file attachments to SOAP messages, adopted in January 2005, is the SOAP Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM). This recommendation is intended to replace all other common methods for transferring binary data, such as the use of CDATA blocks, Base64 coding, SOAP with attachments , for encapsulating the data in MIME messages, as well as DIME.

See also

• XML-binary Optimized Packaging (XOP) - W3C standard for packaging binary data in XML documents
• SOAP Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM) - Recommendation which DIME replaces

Web links

• Use Web Services Enhancements to send SOAP messages with attachments
• Original draft
• Basics of DIME and WS attachments

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See https://msdn.microsoft.com/de-de/library/ms951268.aspx under "Superseded Specifications"