Expert Service-Oriented Architecture in C#: Using the Web Services Enhancements 2.0 [Paperback]

Jeffrey Hasan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1590593901 | ISBN-13: 978-1590593905 | Publication Date: July 26, 2004

SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) is the next big step in evolution for Web services. This book is the first to educate people about SOA, and to introduce them to the technologies that they can use today, prior to the release of Indigo. It will introduce them to a new architecture and will help them realize why Web services are such a big deal (beyond today's popular but very limiting focus on using Web services primarily for RPC method calls). This book will contain a mix of theory combined with ample C# code samples that will show the reader how to implement SOA solutions using a wonderful mix of technologies. It will teach people about SOA today while preparing them for SOA tomorrow. This is applicable to all systems running Windows 2000 or higher.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jeffrey Hasan is the president of Bluestone Partners, Inc., a software development and consulting company based in Orange County, California. His company provides architectural design and software development services to businesses that implement advanced Microsoft technologies. Jeff is an experienced architect and .NET developer, and is the coauthor of several books and articles on .NET technology, including Performance Tuning and Optimizing ASP.NET Applications (Apress, 2003). Jeff has a master's degree from Duke University and is a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD). When he is not working, Jeff likes to play guitar, mountain bike, and travel to far-flung corners of the world. His travels have taken him from southern Spain to Monterrey, Mexico, and on to Quebec, with a few stops in between.

Product Details

• Paperback: 305 pages
• Publisher: A-Press (July 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590593901
• ISBN-13: 978-1590593905
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #637,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding discussions of both SOA and WSE 2.0, August 26, 2004

By 

Jason A. Salas (Dededo, Guam Guam) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Expert Service-Oriented Architecture in C#: Using the Web Services Enhancements 2.0 (Paperback)

At the time of this writing, the two topics arguably getting the most press, causing the most stir and generating the most buzz for web services aficionados are service-oriented architectures (SOA) for general audiences, and more specifically within Microsoft circles, Web Services Enhancements 2.0. Author Jeffrey Hasan (of whose work I'm a big fan, notably for his work in "Performance Tuning and Optimizing ASP.NET Applications" (...) paints a masterful picture of both topics in this outstanding work. This is a must-have if you've caught the WSE bug (pun accidentally intended) and need a practical guide to building better web services.

The material assumes a fair amount of .NET experience on the part of the developer, so the focus isn't on presenting exhaustive code examples and then describing them line by line; the intent is to give the seasoned .NET programmer a primer on how to make their apps more effective and more available to the rest of the world.

Using Microsoft .NET's associated technologies for XML Web services development, SOA is presented as being a maturation process for organizational web services, implementing a high level of abstraction, and therefore, a greater degree of universal appeal by promoting broad component reusability. WSE 2.0 is then tackled, diving into the major areas of consideration for SOAP messaging (security, encryption, routing, reliability, policy creation/enforcement etc.). Hasan describes the importance and role of SOA within large, disparate systems, preaching the gospel of interface-based systems and use of service agents (mid-tier objects managing communications between web services, business components and type/operation interfaces). This builds on the same concept discussed by Microsoft's Yasser Shohoud as a major building block for advanced web services development in his seminal book, "Real World XML Web Services" (...).

Hasan also offers a refreshing, pragmatic discussion on the debatable misconception of the true "benefits" of loosely-coupled web services within enterprise-grade distributed applications, presenting a decent case for tight coupling in certain situations.

The book's prime example of an evolving stock quote service is appreciated a lot more than weak "Hello World" examples, and discrete enough to exhibit most of the advanced features of WSE 2.0 with a SOA slant. Although one of the prime tenets for WSE 2.0 is to facilitate web services in a transport-agnostic manner, many of the examples are geared toward SOAP messaging using HTTP, to the enjoyment of ASP.NET developers - something that's largely missing in the market today, with many current examples being WinForms apps. Desktop developers may grunt at the lack of representation in the book's examples for using other protocols (i.e., TCP, SMTP, etc.), but it's a minor price to pay.

Also, the book does sufficiently and consistently make mention of WSE 2.0 development for those of us not married to Visual Studio .NET environments, even though the preference of the author appears to prefer using the IDE.

This book is wonderfully written, using a voice that makes topics that can be quite difficult to wrap one's brain around easier to grasp. The chapters are very logically arranged. However, the book's major selling point is the working code and practicality of its theories, boasting a heavy dollop of both that experienced devs will appreciate and quickly put to use. With only a sparse amount of syntax-centric documentation, Microsoft Hands-On Labs, articles, and in-print books available at the moment for WSE 2.0 programming, this book is easily the leading resource for concepts and code today on the subject.

On that note, the chapter on the future of messaging with Indigo was an unexpected but welcome treat. I also found myself using the book's appendix more than I do most, which consists of a well-rounded collection of top platform-neutral papers on WS-* initiatives. Very nice touch.

This is an advanced book, but not so far out there that a developer with a few months of .ASMX work logged won't be able to pick it up without sacrificing their social lives and/or sanity. The book's writing style, arrangement of content and oft-brutal honesty (i.e., working with X.509 certificates in WSE 2.0 is pretty easy, but still far from completely painless; VS.NET's Add Web Reference option can royally screw up your proxy classes, et al.) make this a real winner and a great addition to your library.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Doing SOA in a Microsoft environment, July 31, 2004

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Expert Service-Oriented Architecture in C#: Using the Web Services Enhancements 2.0 (Paperback)

As Web Services start getting implemented, most of the work on understanding and implementing useful services has been dominated by developers in the Java/J2EE world. But Microsoft has built a parallel world around its C#/.NET platform. This book, then, can be seen as part of its response.

Hasan rolls out the now plentiful Web Services standards; like WS-Security, WS-Policy and WS-Addressing. He shows how these are implemented in .NET. But his book is more than a simple exposition of these standards. He puts all these within the context of a Service Oriented Architecture, where the programming language is (unsurprisingly) C#.

He tries a little re-education here. Many programmers meeting Web Services for the first time often have prior acquaintance with SOAP. What often ends up happening is that they then conceive of implementing a Web Service as a set of remote procedure calls, using SOAP to access the RPCs. Hasan shows that this is seriously non-optimal. Far better is a looser coupled message passing and processing design. It is within this context that most of the book is presented.

Along the way, he introduces WS Enhancements 2.0. This is used to define and deliver vital features for real world business applications. Features like secure messaging.

All that remains is for you to write an application.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent WSE 2.0 Coverage!, July 30, 2004

By 

Steven Foster (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Expert Service-Oriented Architecture in C#: Using the Web Services Enhancements 2.0 (Paperback)

I needed a book on the Web Services Enhancements (WSE) so I pre-ordered this one (there's not much else available). My expectations were low but to my great surprise this has turned out to be THE most useful computer book I have read all year. It currently sits on my desk next to Ingo Rammer's .NET Remoting (if you know this book, you'll know this is high praise).

As for specifics: this book is a solid reference on building Web Services/SOA solutions using the newly released WSE 2.0. My SOA project has demanding requirements: strict security and policy using certificates and role-based authorization. Plus we need to track messages in case of system failures. This book gave me all the information I needed to design and get started on my project. (It also has a 10 or 12 page references section on other books and articles that was very helpful).

For those who need it, the book provides an excellent discussion on XML messages, and how to construct schemas for custom data types. The book references design patterns and shows you how to use VS .NET tools to auto-generate proxy/stub classes based on your schemas. XML schemas = qualified custom types, and qualified types = fewer bugs! The second half of the book is solid WSE 2.0, reviewing all of the major specs that it implements using detailed code examples that I will use as templates for my own project.

This book is impressive because it provides an end-to-end discussion, from architecting the messages, and the services, to implementing security, policy, routing, addressing and even secure conversation. I came away with a clear understanding of the concepts and a solid understanding of how WSE 2.0 works, and how to implement it in my project. This book teaches, and it makes a great reference. I HIGHLY recommend this book: it will change your whole approach to building Web services, and it will save you valuable time.