Editing Head–body pattern

{{Short description|XML design pattern}} 
The '''head–body pattern''' is a common XML [[software design pattern|design pattern]], used for example in the [[SOAP]] protocol. This pattern is useful when a message, or parcel of data, requires considerable [[metadata]]. While mixing the meta-data with the data could be done it makes the whole confusing. In this pattern the meta-data or meta-information are structured as the header, sometimes known as the envelope. The ordinary data or information are structured as the body, sometimes known as the payload. [[XML]] is employed for both head and body (see also [[XML Protocol]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=XML Design Patterns - Head-Body |url=http://www.xmlpatterns.com/HeadBodyMain.shtml |access-date=2024-02-10 |website=www.xmlpatterns.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pearce |date=2007-06-07 |title=1. The eXstensible Markup Language (XML) |url=https://www.cs.sjsu.edu/~pearce/modules/lectures/web/xml/chp1.htm |access-date=2024-02-10 |website=www.cs.sjsu.edu |quote=We can use the Head-Body pattern to separate data from metadata...}}</ref>

The pattern can be illustrated as:

<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
<head>
    <!--metadata-->
</head>
<body>
    <!--main content-->
</body>
</syntaxhighlight>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Head-body pattern}}
[[Category:XML]]
[[Category:Software design patterns]]

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