real benefits of using apache axis?

[PINAL PATEL <PA...@odjfs.state.oh.us>]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to Apache Axis and to Web Service.  I would appreciate if you could provide some answers to the below questions?.

1.  What is the benefits of using Apache Axis?.
                Without using Apache axis, a developer can just create wsdl file(using a wizard..for eg. IBM WSAD Web Service wizard) and register to uddi server for client to access or directly inform client the host where web service is running.  But using axis, not only we create wsdl file thru java2wsdl utility, we also create java classes (skeleton class etc) and wsdd files thru wsdl2java and deploy them using AdminClient utility to Axis Engine.  Is all this work necessary?.  Will I gain any benefits out of this additional steps when the wsdl was already created using java2wsdl file (As far as I know, wsdl file is all user looks for)?.  

2.  Is there a way for .NET client to access a java web service that has objects(java bean objects) as a parameter/return types?.  Is this possible?

3. Last question, Is there a way for java web service to pass a microsoft excel file to any client?.


I appreciate everyone's input and I thank all of you in advance.


Regards,
Pinal Patel

Re: real benefits of using apache axis?

[Christopher Blunck <bl...@gst.com>]

On Thu, Oct 23, 2003 at 10:27:19AM -0400, PINAL PATEL wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
> 
> 1.  What is the benefits of using Apache Axis?.
>                 Without using Apache axis, a developer can just create wsdl file(using a wizard..for eg. IBM WSAD Web Service wizard) and register to uddi server for client to access or directly inform client the host where web service is running.  But using axis, not only we create wsdl file thru java2wsdl utility, we also create java classes (skeleton class etc) and wsdd files thru wsdl2java and deploy them using AdminClient utility to Axis Engine.  Is all this work necessary?.  Will I gain any benefits out of this additional steps when the wsdl was already created using java2wsdl file (As far as I know, wsdl file is all user looks for)?.  

Axis provides a lot of the plumbing that is required to get "web services" 
working on the Java platform.  Not only does Axis provide a WSDL <-> Java
capability, but it also includes a marshalling engine that can serialize and
deserialize complex types on both the client and the server.  

Where other tools fit in is the creation of a WSDL.  Some tools (the wizard
in IBM WSAD) can reverse engineer a java class and create a WSDL (Axis can 
do that to), and other tools (CapeConnect) are direct WSDL editing and creation
tools.  Axis plays a part in this domain, and does a good job.

But where Axis really stands out is in the actual marshalling I alluded to in
my first paragraph.  


> 2.  Is there a way for .NET client to access a java web service that has objects(java bean objects) as a parameter/return types?.  Is this possible?

Absolutely.  It's up to you to use the tools .NET provides to consume the WSDL
and convert the types into classes that your programming language understands.
It's also up to you and the tool you're using to aid you in establishing a 
binding to the remote webservice.  What tool do you use for .NET?  I don't know.

But for Java you use JWSDP or (preferrably) Axis.  If you reversed the 
situation, and wanted to write a Java client to a .NET web service, you'd 
download the WSDL from the .NET server and use Axis' WSDL2Java utility to
consume the web service and emit java classes corresponding to complex types,
as well as a client stub that can be used to invoke the service (using Axis'
SOAP client engine).


> 3. Last question, Is there a way for java web service to pass a microsoft excel file to any client?.

What's a microsoft excel file?  ;-)

Yes - there are several different ways to do this.  The most primitive is to
base64 encode it.  There are trickier ways to do it in SOAP (which I don't 
fully understand), but I don't believe they are implemented (yet).



> I appreciate everyone's input and I thank all of you in advance.

Hope this helps,


-c

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