Architecting Web Services - Softcover

Oellermann Jr., William L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1893115585 ISBN 13: 9781893115583

Publisher: Apress, 2001

Synopsis

Architecting Web Services is targeted toward developers and technical architects who have heard about, and even started to work with, Web services. The book starts with a background on the evolution of Web services and their significance to future collaborative efforts via the Internet. It then reveals the architecture for Web services and the various relationships that can be established through their consumption.

Following a short technical primer on XML and related technologies, the Web services model is outlined to illustrate the decisions that have to be made in the areas of presentation, interface, and security before the design is even started. Topics ranging from content to state management to system infrastructures are discussed to help you understand the options and the pitfalls when developing robust Web services.

The life cycle of implementing Web services from start to finish is illustrated, taking existing processes and exposing their functionality through Web services. Examples extend both Java and COM objects as Web services before exposing an entire hotel reservation system through a Web services workflow. These exercises are followed by three application scenarios that consume these Web services, again with both Java and Visual Basic/ASP examples. Discussions cover the design, implementation, and testing of each solution to ensure a successful result.

Finally, the book takes a look ahead at the future of Web services by examining both the current strategies of the primary vendors and the standards initiatives that are presently under way. A companion website provides all the source code, and hosts the Web services and sample applications introduced in the book.

About this title

About the Author

William L. Oellerman, Jr. is the chief architect for Ericsson's eBusiness Solution Center. He has more than nine years of experience in the IT industry in both a corporate and consulting capacity. He has worked extensively with XML- and web-based applications in enterprise settings, including production applications for integration and e-commerce at Fortune 500 companies such as American Greetings, Citigroup, Ericsson, and Zale Corporation. Having grown up professionally with the Internet and having earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Texas at Dallas, William has a balanced background that makes him well-suited to recognize the value of software engineering while embracing the potential of the Web. This background and his passion for problem solving and delivering solutions to address real issues compelled him to make the web services paradigm his primary focus.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From the Introduction:

The industry's need for Web services first dawned on me in November of 1999. My realization of their potential has been growing ever since.

At the time I was a consultant struggling with the issues around B2B adoption. I was trying to figure out why, despite the obvious value of B2B automation on paper, only a very few organizations were actually using it. Having grown up with the Web professionally, I related it directly to the massive rush that occurred once companies felt the need to build Web sites. Why wasn't the same rush occurring in B2B?

I identified two main barriers to B2B adoption, one political and the other technical. The political barrier is that B2B takes two sides working together, which always bogs things down. This is made even more complicated by the technical information that has to be communicated between organizations.

The technical barrier is that building these programmatic links between organizations is neither standardized nor easy to implement. Whereas Web pages are easy to build, B2B partnerships are not. HTML is one of the easiest technologies for non-technical people to pick up. Countless people have become IT professionals by first dabbling in HTML and then expanding into other technologies. While anyone can view a Web page, a business transaction is a concept that has to be envisioned. That makes it difficult for business professionals to understand and technical professionals to consistently implement meaningful Web services.

Since becoming aware of Web services and their value, I have been very focused on this area. I have had the privilege of speaking with many organizations on this topic, giving several technical presentations and even designing and deploying a few Web services. I have collected quite a bit of information on the topic and wanted to share my experiences and opinions with the industry to help contribute to the understanding and appreciation for Web services. This book is a culmination of those efforts.

Edition details

• Publisher: Apress
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1893115585
• ISBN 13: 9781893115583
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 672