This figure shows the runtime architecture of Oracle Web Services. The figure shows the Web Services client and the OC4J/Oracle Application Server Web Services server, with XML documents exchanging between the client and the Web Service.

Client (Browser or Fat Client): The client uses SOAP and encodes and decodes XML documents using the SOAP binding to exchange SOAP RPC or Document style messages to send requests to a Web Service and to receive replies from the Web Service.

Web Service Implementation running in OC4J: the Web Services server includes the following components: OC4J, and other Oracle Application Server support. Under OC4J, a Web Service is handled using Apache to accept requests and send replies, and running Web Services under OC4J with a Servlet Entry Point the Web Service implementations, including both RPC and Document Style both RPC and Document Style. The following RPC services are shown: Stateless Java classes, Stateful Java classes, Stateless Session EJBs, and Stateless PL/SQL Stored Procedures or Functions. The following Document Style services are shown: Stateless Java Document Style, Stateful Java Document Style, and JMS Java Web Services.

Each Servlet Entry point uses the SOAP Binding and Encodes and Decodes the incoming/outgoing XML document containing either the SOAP RPC request/response or the SOAP Document Style message.