Editing XML-RPC (section)

==Usage==
In XML-RPC, a client performs an RPC by sending an HTTP request to a server that implements XML-RPC and receives the HTTP response.  A call can have multiple parameters and one result.  The protocol defines a few data types for the parameters and result.  Some of these data types are complex, i.e. nested.  For example, you can have a parameter that is an array of five integers.

The parameters/result structure and the set of data types are meant to mirror those used in common programming languages.

''Identification'' of clients for authorization purposes can be achieved using popular HTTP security methods. [[Basic access authentication]] can be used for identification and authentication.

In comparison to RESTful protocols, where ''resource representations'' (documents) are transferred, XML-RPC is designed to ''call methods''.  The practical difference is just that XML-RPC is much more structured, which means common library code can be used to implement clients and servers and there is less design and documentation work for a specific application protocol. {{Citation needed|reason=This is a vague opinion that doesn't reflect commonly accepted views, XML-RPC adoption having been declining for its lack of reuse and common structure by major actors since the last 20 years|date=August 2024}} One salient technical difference between typical RESTful protocols and XML-RPC is that many RESTful protocols use the HTTP URI for parameter information, whereas with XML-RPC, the URI just identifies the server.

[[JSON-RPC]] is similar to XML-RPC.