This topic introduces you to using Web services. WebSphere Application Server supports Web services that are developed and implemented based on a variety of Java programming models. Use Web services when operating across a variety of platforms, including the J2EE 1.4 and non-J2EE platforms.
For a detailed list of the Web services specifications supported by the application server, read about specifications and API documentation.
Implementing Web services applications is an easy way to integrate application systems together within or outside your business infrastructure that function as stand-alone systems. For example, your customer information database is a stand-alone application, but you want your accounting application to access the customer data. You can create a Web service for the customer database and then enable the accounting application as a Web service client. The accounting application can now access the customer information. By implementing a Web service, these two applications can share information in an efficient way.
Because Web services are easily applied to existing applications and information technology assets, you can develop, deploy and recompose new solutions quickly to address new opportunities. As Web services become more popular, the pool of services grows, promoting development of more robust models of just-in-time application and business integration over the Internet.
You can use Web services applications with the application server by following the steps provided:The following example illustrates how a business might use Web services.
The owner of a flower shop wants to start receiving orders from customers through the Web. This owner starts the process by finding wholesale flower suppliers, pricing the product, and completing contracts for future flower orders.
Using Web services, the flower shop owner can find wholesale flower suppliers. One way to find new suppliers is to use a Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry to search for potential suppliers. When the suppliers are chosen, the registry sends back information on how to contact the flower distributors that meet the criteria of the flower shop owner.The flower shop owner can request price lists from each of the suppliers by obtaining a WSDL file for each potential supplier. The WSDL can be downloaded from the Web page of the supplier, received through e-mail, or retrieved from the UDDI registry entry of the supplier.
The WSDL describes the procedure call. When using WebSphere Application Server, the procedure call is a Java API for XML-based remote procedure call (JAX-RPC) which retrieves price lists. The WSDL file also specifies the Universal Resource Locator (URL) where the request is sent.
The flower shop owner now has to compare the prices received from each supplier, decide which suppliers to do business with, and make arrangements for future orders to fill. The flower shop can now sell merchandise through the Web by using Web services to communicate with suppliers for the best prices and complete the ordering processes. The merchandise price lists need publishing to the Web site and a mechanism is needed for customers to order flowers.
The Web services clients of the flower supplier are deployed on the flower shop server. When a customer makes a transaction to purchase flowers through the Web, the order is sent to the supplier through the procedure call. The supplier responds by sending a confirmation with the order number and shipping date. The suppliers maintain the inventory and the flower shop owner handles billing and customer order management.
Similarly, the flower shop catalog can be composed automatically from the catalogs of each supplier. If the supplier delivers directly to the customer, then the order tracking inquiries can pass directly to the order tracking system of the supplier. The supplier can also use Web services to send invoices for orders by the flower shop. Processes that previously required forms to fill manually, and fax or mail, can now be done automatically, saving labor costs for both the flower shop and the supplier.
Using Web services is beneficial because a much larger inventory is made available to the flower shop. No merchandise maintenance overhead exists, and the flower shop can offer their customers products that they otherwise might not have. Selling flowers through the Web increases capital for the flower shop without overhead of another store or resources invested into additional products.
For a more detailed scenario, see Web services scenario: Overview which tells the story of a fictional online garden supply retailer, Plants by WebSphere, and how they incorporated the Web services concept.
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