Introduction
As the name "Web Services" suggests, it is a method for communicating between
two electronic devices over the web (internet).
A web service is not a website that a human reads. It is not anything with which
an end user would directly interact. A web service is a standard platform for
building interoperable distributed applications. It allows you as a developer,
to interact with other information providers without worrying about what they
are running either at the backend or even their front-end.
Points to remember
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WS are small units of code.
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WS are small unit of codes that is designed to handle a limited set of
tasks. For example, online payment system communicates using Web Services.
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WS are independent of OS and Programming Languages.
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WS are not limited to OS type or Programming Languages as it communicates
using open protocol systems.
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WS are designed to handle a limited set of tasks.
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The main point is that they are designed to handle limited sets of tasks,
like a payment gateway connects to a server for some time interval.
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WS connects to different systems and devices.
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Another point is that it can establish communication with different types of
systems; for example, a mobile device can also use banking or stock prices.
Benefits of WS
Web Services (WS) create new possibilities for many businesses because they
provide easy ways to distribute information to a large number of consumers. For
example, ticket reservation systems, payment systems, stock market etc. Here is
the list of benefits.
Protocols
WS uses the standard web protocols to establish communication between different
types of systems (open standard) like XML, HTTP, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI.
XML
XML was designed to transport and store data and in WS we take its advantage to
transport the data.
HTTP
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application protocol for
distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the
foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web.
SOAP
SOAP is a simple XML-based protocol to let applications exchange information
over HTTP. Or more simply, SOAP is a protocol for accessing a Web Service. In
other words, SOAP provides a way to communicate between applications running on
different operating systems, with different technologies and programming
languages.
WSDL
WSDL (Web Services Description Language) is an XML-based language for describing
Web services and how to access them.
WSDL is a document written in XML. The document describes a Web service. It
specifies the location of the service and the operations (or methods) the
service exposes.
UDDI
Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) are a directory service
where businesses can register and search for Web services. It is
platform-independent framework for describing services, discovering businesses,
and integrating business services by using the Internet.
Developing Web Services and Consuming Web Services
I am an ASP.NET guy, so I'll prefer to use it in the Web Service developments.
Keep in mind, there are two separate developments involved in Web Services:
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Developing Web Services and
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Consuming Web Services
Watch the very nice video (no audio) created by me on YouTube to complete this
post.
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