MSc Thesis

Title

SOAP Web Service

Author

Brian Suda

Organisation

The University of Edinburgh

Completed

September 11th, 2003

Abstract

SOAP based web services are designed with a common XML-based protocol. The goal is to allow for a machine readable document to be passed over any and/or multiple connection protocols to create a decentralised, distributed system. This project demonstrates an RPC client-server model service that provides bibliography information. Any SOAP aware program could use this service by sending the proper values to the server and in return getting back a full listing of bibliographic information. This paper also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the SOAP protocol, how it compares to various other distributed system protocols such as; CORBA, XML-RPC, and JAVA-RMI, and how SOAP fits into the distributed architecture.

Description of the project

A Web Service is a three-tiered application consisting of a client, webserver, and application. This project will require the construction of a java client and a java servlet application for the webserver.

The java client will have three main functions - the ability to query the Web Service for information - the ability to add data to the Web Service - the ability to edit/delete data through the Web Service.

As an example service I plan to create a Bibliography Web Service. As people write papers they can add their references to the database which in turn allows others to query that information to be used in their own papers. Having this as a centralised service will reduce redundancy and allow the user to search for other sources someone else has entered about their topic.

The java servlet application uses a database to store all necessary information, but this is transparent to the java client.

The Web Service will use the SOAP protocol to transfer the information to and from the client. A WSDL file will also be created so the client application knows the available functions and parameters for each.

This project will be taken up mainly in Java, but will also attempt to demonstrate the ability to make WebService requests through a heterogeneous system by the use of additional languages such as perl for a simple client.

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Last modified: October 11, 2009 11:11:35 UTC