Java Web Services [Paperback]

David A. Chappell (Author), Tyler Jewell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2002

For many Java developers, web services appeared to come out of nowhere. Its advantages are clear: web services are platform-independent (like Java itself), language-agnostic (a clear advantage over Java RMI), can easily be tunneled through firewalls (an obvious benefit to anyone who has dealt with modern enterprise networks), object-oriented (we all know about that), and tends to be loosely coupled (allowing more flexible application development). But these advantages have been obscured by a cloud of hype and a proliferation of jargon that are difficult to penetrate. What are SOAP, UDDI, WSDL, and JAXM? To say nothing of JAXR, tModels, category bags, WSFL, and other friends? And assuming that you understand what they are, how do you do anything with them? Do they live up to their promises? Are they really the future of network computing, or a dead end?

Java Web Services gives the experienced Java developer a way into the Web Services world. It helps you to understand what's going on, what the technologies mean and how they relate, and shows Java developers how to put them to use to solve real problems. You'll learn what's real and what isn't; what the technologies are really supposed to do, and how they do it. Java Web Services shows you how to use SOAP to perform remote method calls and message passing; how to use WSDL to describe the interface to a web service or understand the interface of someone else's service; and how to use UDDI to advertise (publish) and look up services in each local or global registry. Java Web Services also discusses security issues, interoperability issues, integration with other Java enterprise technologies like EJB; the work being done on the JAXM and JAX-RPC packages, and integration with Microsoft's .NET services.

The web services picture is still taking shape; there are many platforms and APIs to consider, and many conflicting claims from different marketing groups. And although web services are inherently language-independent, the fit between the fundamental principles on which Java and web services are based means that Java will almost certainly be the predominant language for web services development. If you're a Java developer and want to climb on the web services bandwagon, or if you only want to "kick the tires" and find out what web services has to offer, you will find this book indispensable.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

At the end of the day, Web services aren't hard to conceptualize. They're just a bunch of software modules with specific rules about how they go about discovering one another and sending messages back and forth. Implementation is another story, however. In the Java language, writing Web services requires an understanding of half a dozen specialized APIs at minimum, and more than that if you want to do fancier stuff. Java Web Services does a very good job of dispersing the confusing terminology (and obfuscating hype) and of showing you exactly how to do Web services work in Java. This doesn't sound like a revolutionary concept, but unfortunately it is. David Chappell and Tyler Jewell have comfortably fit into less than 250 pages what others have not done as well in twice as much space.

Take Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) work as an example. UDDI exists to help software locate other software that does what it wants. How do you do that? Chappell and Jewell present two concise program listings--a client and a server--that show how to do a UDDI lookup. They then refine their code by using a third-party API that makes the work easier. Similarly pragmatic attention goes to Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), in which they show how to create a message, populate it with XML, make an attachment if necessary, and send it on its way. You won't find a lot of frills or conceptual explanations (though there are enough "why" sections to ensure that you're not just typing recipes blindly); the emphasis is on writing Java code that interacts with Web services protocols and standards. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to write Web services software in Java, with respect to Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), and Web Services Description Language (WSDL). There's also coverage of interprocess communication under JAX-RPC and ways to implement security. All of the low-level stuff is here. Look elsewhere for architecture and design information.

About the Author

Tyler Jewell, Director, Technical Evangelism, BEA Systems Tyler oversees BEA's technology evangelism efforts that are focused on driving early adoption of strategic BEA technologies into the ISV and developer community. He is the key figure for creating the joint technical alignment with many partners. He is also a technologist with expertise in Web Services, large-scale system design, and application infrastructures. Tyler is author of Java Web Services (O'Reilly, 2002), Mastering Enterprise JavaBeans 2.0 (Wiley, 2001) and Professional Java Server Programming J2EE 1.3 (Wrox, 2001). Tyler is a member of O'Reilly's Editorial Masthead and maintains a monthly J2EE column at www.onjava.com. He is also on the editorial boards of Sys-Con's WebLogic Developer's Journal and Web Services Journal and is the technology advisor to www.theserverside.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596002696
• ISBN-13: 978-0596002695
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,124,916 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good intro to WSDL, SOAP, and UDDI but light on JWSDP, June 5, 2002

By 

M. Woinoski (New Paltz, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Java Web Services (Paperback)

At 250 pages, this book is a good introduction to Java web services but there just isn't enough material here to do serious Java development. The coverage of WSDL, SOAP, and UDDI gives a good overview but is too short for some actually deploying a web service. And there are only 26 pages devoted to JAX-RPC and JAXM, the most important Java APIs for web services. A better book is "Building Web Services with Java" (Sams) but even that has only a cursory review of Sun's Java Web Services Developer Pack. If you're a serious developer, you'll need to download JWSDP from Sun and go through the tutorial to learn the APIs.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Out of date, October 28, 2005

By 

Patrick Carroll "Winebibber. Java/JEE Develo... (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Java Web Services (Paperback)

I bought this, hoping to be able to use it on a web services project I'm doing.

I find it's completely out of date. Both Sun's JWSDP and Apache Axis have moved on since this was written, and you'll get better information from their websites than you'll get from this book.

Don't bother with it.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Covers Everything, May 16, 2002

By 

Nasseam Elkarra "nasseam" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Java Web Services (Paperback)

If you are serious about implementing a web services solution or just curious about this emerging technology, Java Web Services is a must for your bookshelf. This book does not only focus on the spectrum of technologies that make up web services, but also the concepts needed to fully understand the associated architecture and implement a successful strategy.

Although the back cover claims that the book is for the experienced Java developer, you don't have to be a Java or XML expert to read this book. The clarity of the text and the brief overview of technologies before elaborating, will give any reader a worthwhile experience.

Chapter 3 on SOAP is probably the best breakdown of SOAP I have ever read. For this reason, I recommend this book for anyone planning for web services and not only with Java. The examples might be given in Java, but-in keeping with web services architecture-the concepts are platform-independent. The chapter "SOAP: The Cornerstone of Interoperability" gives practical examples; from a simple SOAP message to more advanced topics like routing and faults. Developers will probably be most interested with the SOAP-RPC section, which is essential for consuming web services.

One of the most interesting things about the book is its style. Web services is a whole mess of technologies but, rather then mixing them up, the authors took a very modular approach. This way, each chapter can be read individually without confusion. At the same time, the early chapters get you ready for the more advanced topics down the road.

Enterprise developers should take careful note on the chapters dealing with J2EE and especially JMS. Expect J2EE to be the platform of choice for deploying web services. As web services advance, expect reliability and security to be key factors to the success of their deployment. That is why JMS will be a key component in insuring reliability and is given nice coverage. Maybe they saved the best for last by covering web services security briefly in the last chapter. Many topics were discussed briefly throughout the book. Not because of their lack of importance, but because the technologies or still works in progress. Expect them to be covered in future editions as standards evolve.

In conclusion, Java Web Services will provide you with the knowledge to fully implement a web services solution. The book has examples of both creating and consuming web services and everything in between. I guarantee if you read this you will be on your way to becoming one of the web services elite.