This document describes a scenario in which an online garden supply retailer uses Web services to integrate its inventory system with the inventory systems of other retailers. Also using Web services, the main Internet storefront can check supplier inventories on behalf of itself or other retailers.
The marketers at Plants by WebSphere confirm with market data that people are likely to purchase plants and gardening supplies in tandem with purchases of other goods, such as gardening books. To increase the visibility of Plants by WebSphere, the company arranges with various other merchant sites to include Plants by WebSphere inventory as part of their own.
At one site, Web services and other technologies are used to insert data about Plants by WebSphere items into Web pages that match the look and feel of the rest of the site. When a customer orders a Plants by WebSphere item at a site other than Plants by WebSphere, the second site relies on the Plants by WebSphere inventory Web service to make sure that the item is in stock, and to query suppliers as needed.
The second site does not have to implement its own Web services to perform the same function as those developed by Plants by WebSphere. The second site might want to implement sophisticated function by creating its own Web service.
Plants by WebSphere could support JavaBeans endpoints within the Web container by installing the Feature Pack for Web Services on top of the V6.1 product. The Feature Pack for Web Services is based on a new programming model called Java API for XML Web Services (JAX-WS). JAX-RPC client applications and JAX-WS client applications can be used in the same module.
Installing the Feature Pack for Web Services release not only supports JavaBeans endpoints, but a wealth of other new specifications, standards and components that simplify Web services development and implementation. For a complete list of supported and non-supported application-level features, see "What is new in the Version 6.1 Feature Pack for Web Services." For a complete list of specifications and standards that are supported, see the topic "Specifications and API documentation."
The Feature Pack for Web Services product makes it easy to configure and reuse configurations, so you can seamlessly incorporate new Web services profiles. And, the new standards support interoperable and reliable Web services applications. The online retailer can send messages asynchronously, which means that the messages can communicate reliably even if one of the parties is temporarily offline, busy, or not available. By using these new technologies, the online retailer can be confident that its communication is reliable and reaches its destination while interoperating with other vendors.
By publishing the Web service, other retailers are made aware of the inventory Web service available from Plants by WebSphere. In this scenario, Plants by WebSphere enables the Web service to check its own inventory, as well as that of suppliers.
The application powering the Web site checks the Plants by WebSphere inventory database. It discovers that the item is not in stock.
The application invokes a Java API for XML-based remote procedure call (JAX-RPC) SOAP client, or a JAX-WS SOAP client if the Feature Pack for Web Services is installed, that communicates with a SOAP server at the supplier site to ascertain whether the supplier has the item in stock. The supplier data is sent to the reseller.