security and request/response format in RESTFUL web services

[Vivian Wang <vi...@yahoo.com>]

Hi, All,

I am trying to use axis2/c to develop a web service client that will consume RESTFUL web services. I have the following questions:

(1) What security mechanisms are supported for consuming restful web services? BASIC authentication (both plainText and Digest)? HTTPS/SSL? and anything else? I assume WS-security does not apply here, right?

(2) I also wonder what the format of the request and resposne has to be for consuming RESTFUL web services? Do they have to be in XML format (including html)? or can be just anything like plaintext string or even empty? It seems to be that at least in HTTP GET, all you need is a URL that points to the resource, you really don't need anything in the payload. 

(3) I am wondering if AXIS2/c can deal with a request with no payload, and in the case of plainText string in the request and respone, how the payload is going to look like. The examples I read from the axis2/c distribution all suggests that an XML format (there are XML tags) is assume for the payload, is this assumption correct?

Thanks!
Vivian