XML Web Services – Introduction - Part –I

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Table Of Contents:

Introduction:

XML Web Services Uses:

XML Web Services Components:

Reference:

Finally:

Introduction: 

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XML Web services are the fundamental building blocks in the move to distributed computing on the Internet. XML Web services are program components that allow you to build scalable, loosely coupled, platform-independent applications. XML Web services enable disparate applications to exchange messages using standard protocols such as HTTP, XML, XSD, SOAP, and Web Services Description Language (WSDL). In this article we will discuss about the XML Web services components.

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XML Web Services Uses: 

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An XML Web service can consist of specific programming logic to provide functionality, such as income tax calculation. An XML Web service that computes income tax requires a client application to provide information such as income, savings, and investments made during the year. Client applications can call a method on the service and provide the necessary information as arguments to the method call. The data related to the method call and to the arguments is sent to the Web service in XML format using the SOAP protocol over the HTTP transport. Another example in which you can use XML Web services is application integration. You can enable a payroll application written in one language, such as COBOL, to send data to a component that is written in another language, such as Visual Basic, using an XML Web service.

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XML Web Services Components: 

Directories<o:p>

This component provides a central place to store published information about XML Web services. The Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) specifications define the guidelines for publishing information about XML Web services.

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Discovery<o:p>

The discovery process enables clients to know about the presence of an XML Web service and about the location of a particular XML Web service.

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Description<o:p>

The XML Web service description is an XML document that specifies the format of messages that an XML Web service can understand. For example, the description document specifies the SOAP message schemas that you use when invoking methods on an XML Web service.

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Communication (Wire formats)<o:p>

Open wire formats are the protocols that can be understood by any system that is capable of supporting common Web standards, such as HTTP and SOAP. The HTTP-GET and HTTP-POST protocols are the standard Web protocols that allow you to send parameters as name-value pairs. The HTTP-GET protocol allows you to send URL-encoded parameters as name-value pairs to an XML Web service. The SOAP protocol allows you to exchange structured and typed information between the applications on the Internet.

Reference: 

Refer the following URL for more details,

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http://msdn.microsoft.com/webservices/understanding/webservicebasics/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnwebsrv/html/webservbasics.asp

Finally: 

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<o:p>I hope this article will help you to know about the XML Web service basis. In next articles, we will discuss about XML Web service creation and distribution.