Today's most popular Web services APIs - JAX-RPC and JAXM - support two very
different programming models for invocation of Web services, one synchronous,
one asynchronous. If users need both models in a single application, they are
forced to use two sets of very different APIs. This article, the first of a
two-part series, describes an architecture and programming model - the Web
Services Invocation Framework (WSIF) - that provides a single set of APIs
that supports both models.
JAX-RPC, which is currently part of J2EE and consequently is a mandatory
implementation for all J2EE application services vendors, defines and uses an
XML-based remote procedure call mechanism. JAX-RPC is a very powerful,
easy-to-use API for RPC-style Web services communications. The relative
simplicity of the RPC model, which is very similar to the method invocation
of the local Java clas... (more)
In Part 1 of this series, we discussed how the use of messaging software can
alleviate some of the problems with integration of J2EE and .NET environments
using Web services. In this article we will discuss implementation of the
proposed architecture on both J2EE and .NET platforms, along with possible
enhancements of the proposed solution.
All of the code referenced in this article is available for download from
www.sys-con.com/websphere/sourcec.cfm.
Implementing the .NET Client
Although support pack MA07 supports all the basic functionality of WebSphere
MQ and is implemented ba... (more)
Over the past several years EJB technology has entered the software
development mainstream. This new level of recognition and greater popularity
brings an increase in design activities in the EJB space, such as best
practices and design patterns.
Most of the EJB design practices created so far are aimed at improving the
overall performance of EJB-based applications. It turns out that the majority
of these practices were taken directly from object-oriented development (OO)
and moved to the realm of EJB design, without consideration for the specifics
of EJBs. This article emphasiz... (more)
There are three big challenges when implementing distributed computing
systems: data transfer, interface management, and remote invocation. This
article examines how XML can help with each of these, and how XML-based
semantic messaging can unify disparate distributed architectures.
Most popular distributed computing models, such as DCE, DCOM, RMI, and CORBA,
attempt to present the developer with the standard function/method invocation
paradigm, which is exactly the same as a local invocation. Foo (int a, char
b, double c) This is usually done by describing the interface using some... (more)
The Web Services Invocation Framework (WSIF) is an architecture and
programming model that - unlike today's most popular Web services APIs,
JAX-RPC and JAXM - supports RPC and messaging invocation of Web services in a
single programming model.
In Part 1 of this series I introduced WSIF and described its architecture and
programming model. In this article I will discuss more advanced topics of
WSIF programming, such as usage of different providers, JNDI bindings,
asynchronous service invocation, and messaging.
Using the EJB Provider
After creating the basic Web service implementat... (more)