Web services represent a new architectural paradigm for software applications. To utilize the Web services technology to the hilt, Web services should be developed from all various kinds of software components on various technologies, languages, and platforms. This is the reason why different kinds of software featured among the finalists when Developer.com held its annual contest for Web Service (or Related Tool) of the Year 2005.
This article will discuss each of the finalist products in Developer.com—Web Service of the Year 2005’s contest. I will also try to find whether this selection shows any emerging trend about the software industry.
Developer.com—Web Service of the Year 2005: The Finalists
The various finalists of the Web Service of the Year 2005 contest are (in alphabetical order):
- Apache Axis
- Java Web Service Developer Pack
- Microsoft® MapPoint® Web Service
- NuSOAP
- ParaSoft SOAPtestTM
1. Apache Axis
Apache Axis is a widely popular implementation of the SOAP submission to W3C. Axis is essentially a SOAP engine—a framework for constructing SOAP processors such as clients, servers, gateways, and so forth. The current version of Axis is written in Java, but a C++ implementation of the client side of Axis is being developed.
Provider
Axis is an open source project. It is available at Apache Axis.
Features of Axis 1.2
- A simple stand-alone server
- SOAP engine
- A server that plugs into servlet engines such as Tomcat
- Extensive support for the Web Service Description Language (WSDL)
- Emitter tooling that generates Java classes from WSDL
- A tool for monitoring TCP/IP packets
- Documentation and sample programs
Reasons for selection
- Speed
- Flexibility
- Stability
- Component-oriented deployment
- Transport framework
Downloads
Both source code and binaries can be downloaded from Axis Releases.
2. Java Web Service Developer Pack
Java WSDP is a free, integrated toolkit developers can use to build, test, and deploy XML applications; and Web services and Web applications with the latest technologies and standards implementations. Java WSDP gives developers the ability to begin designing to the latest specifications and profiles from standards bodies and industry consortia, such as W3C, OASIS and WS-I, even prior to the support becoming available in commercial Sun products.
With the newest release (1.5) now available, developers will be able to create XML and Web services-enabled applications that are secure, interoperable, and portable across different platforms and devices. This release contains some exciting Web services security features; with support for securing JAX-RPC applications, security operations now can be configured either at the level of a WSDL service, port, or operation. Java WSDP has been tested on the Sun Java System Application Server, Sun Java System Web Server and Tomcat, and on Windows, Linux, and Solaris platforms.
Provider
The Winner