JADE Web Service Provider

One of the important roles in the Web service architecture is that of the Web service provider. The infrastructure that a Web service provider makes available to support and host Web services include the following.

• HTTP protocol handling and authentication services

• A protocol listener, which must be an HTTP listener in JADE

• Because a Web service provider can host multiple Web services, it must also be able to direct the request to an appropriate Web service

• As unknown Web service consumers can access a Web service provider, the Web server must provide basic security services at the protocol level

The JADE Web framework uses Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) or Apache as its Web server to provide this functionality. In addition, JADE provides the following.

• A mechanism for classes, properties, and methods to be exposed for a Web service (for details, see "Defining the Classes, Properties, and Methods for a Web Service", in the following section)

• Generation of the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) file from the class, property, and method information (for details, see "Generating Web Services Description Language (WSDL)", later in this chapter)

• A special Web application type (Web Service) and additional application options for using this service (for details, see "Defining a Web Services Provider Application", later in this chapter)

• Application framework for running the service (for details, see "Generating Web Services Description Language (WSDL)", "Setting Up Version Control", and "Testing the Web Services Interface", later in this chapter)