My 2c as a newbie. No.1 thing for a better Axis - much better documentation!! No.2 thing, better ease of use
For a newbie, Web Services and Axis are something of a minefield, through which there are no clear marked paths. The docs sell .jws when really all its good for is persauding people web services are much easier than they actually are ... was going to list other faults of docs but instead ... How to improve docs: Provide a number of real world scenarios that clearly illustrate the development of production quality web services. Start with something simple and then move on from there. Explain why things are being done in a certain way. StockQuote, ServiceSendingAttachment, ServiceSendingComplexType ... Provide examples of different ways of working with Axis and explain their merits jws, interface -> java2wdsl -> wsdl2java, wsdl by hand, wsdl2java, Explain clearly key web services issues xml-oo mismatch, ... Provide a number of clear paths through these areas, perhaps following a format like the java tutorial. How to improve ease of use: Improve, or at the very least clearly document the command line interface tools - wsdl2java, java2wsdl. Document the ant tasks and provide good examples of usage. Provide default log4j configurations inbuilt into the command line tools, so if they can't find a properties file on the command line they will at least log to the console. Perhaps add a command line switch (oh no another one) to set logging level. None of this is particularly glamorous, but the reason this thread started is because much of this doesn't exist and people need clearer guidance about how to get the best out of Axis. All best Andy Andrew Premdas Student Systems Developer Manchester University -----Original Message----- From: Davanum Srinivas [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 1:14 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Best Practices? Let's twist this discussion on its head.... - Is there a list of bugs hiding in there somewhere? (bug reports) - What would you do if you were to write/re-write parts of axis? (enhancements requests) If we can't create new bug reports / enchancements to tell axis developers how axis should behave in the future (1.2 Final) then all discussion is just water under the bridge. thanks, -- dims On Wed, 12 May 2004 12:12:44 -0500, Joe Plautz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Thanks for the advice! This is exactly what I've been looking for. > > It almost seems that people end up using Axis inspite of itself. But, it's > just too dang easy to get something up and running. I imagine JWS files have > lead many people astray with their simplicity. If all services could work > like them, plus using user defined objects/type with little to no > configuration. The world would be a fabulous place. > > I too have been not tying my service layer to my DAO layer. My reasons are > more personal preferrance then need. But, I can take my DAO and put it > behind something else with little changing except creating a new broker. > > -Joe > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Anderson Jonathan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 10:03 AM > Subject: RE: Best Practices? > > > I would venture to say that 80% of the complications and frustrations > > implementing interoperable (WS-I compliant Doc/Literal) SOAP web services > on > > Java platforms stem from the XML datatype to Java datatype binding > problem. > > > > If you take the time to learn W3C XML Schema, you'll see the problem: it's > > not an OO type system. Therefore modeling your data types in Java and > > expecting some automagic Java2WSDL utility to do all of the hard work to > > generate your XML schema is naive, and it is unfortunate that so many OO > > developers think this way. > > > > I've encountered several approaches for dealing with this problem with > > Axis - virtually all of them involve hand crafting your WSDL and XSD (with > a > > WSDL/XSD IDE, of course) and generating a Java type system using ***a > > particular Java XML binding engine***. Using Axis's internal XML binding > > engine is one of several options available to you. > > > > For more info on the XML binding problem in Java, I defer to Dennis > Sosnoski > > (www.sosnoski.com), a long-time XML deep thinker. He first turned me onto > > the XML data binding "problem" with his excellent articles (4 parts) on > the > > issues over at IBM developerWorks. > > > > http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/x-databdopt/index.html > > > > If you're trying to use Axis's internal XML binding engine, here's some > > advice: > > > > http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=axis-user&m=107945370506044&w=2 > > > > We've since moved away from this approach, and are currently using Axis's > > Message Style services to pass the SOAP Request Body DOM straight to > Castor, > > which unmarshalls the XML into a Castor generated type system. We further > > introduced a broker pattern to abstract the SOAP messaging layer from our > > business layer, which currently is not tied to any XSD generated types. > > > > Axis Message Style Service Implementation -> > > Service Broker Layer (unmarshalls SOAP Request DOM via Castor, extracts > the > > necessary information from Castor types - literally traversing the graph's > > getters - to invoke Business Manager Layer, and catches Business > Exceptions > > and maps them to proper SOAP Faults using AxisFault)-> > > Business Manager Layer (not tied to XSD types, but rather pure Java > business > > domain types, invokes DAO layer as needed) -> > > DAO Layer (a Spring/Hibernate layer to manage persistence for business > > domain types) > > > > The problem here is definitely managing and translating between the two > type > > systems: Castor generated classes from XSD and non-generated Business > Domain > > classes. > > > > The alternative, however, is to just try to use the XSD generated type > > system and persist that directly. This is too big of a leap for us right > > now, as our business layer doesn't "think" in pure XSD type terms. You'll > > probably encounter this a lot given how much legacy functionality people > are > > trying to SOAP service enable. > > > > Bottom line: implementing a WS-I compliant SOAP service in Java is not a > > trivial thing. There are two types of people building Web Services in > Java: > > those who are extremely frustrated with the completely stupid state of the > > Java based Web Services world right now and yet still trying very hard to > do > > it right, and those who haven't grasped that world is in a completely > stupid > > state right now. > > > > -Jon > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Joe Plautz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 10:02 AM > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: Re: Best Practices? > > > > > > My first attemps have started with a WSDL/Schema then I generate > everything. > > I was able to find an example at W3.org and I just manipulate it to the > way > > I need it. I thought this to be the best way at the time because of > > interoperability. > > > > From what I've been finding thus far there are no "Standard" practices, > just > > "Accepted" practices. Starting with a class then using Java2WSDL and then > > WSDL2Java seems to be the most common. But, it almost seems that this was > > not the intention of the designers of Axis. Why use two steps when you can > > use one? Creating a WSDL from scratch seems like the intended way, but is > > not the most accepted way by the developers/users of Axis. Why write what > > you can generate? > > > > I know this isn't difficult earth shattering stuff, I'm just looking for > the > > best way of doing this. So, when I start working with other people to > create > > services, we're doing it the "right" way. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Dorner Thomas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 7:01 AM > > Subject: AW: Best Practices? > > > > > > You are right - if you will do a interoperable webservice > > that deal with other clients (.Net ...) its better to go from the > > wsdl. > > > > But when i use String, int and so on and i generate a wsdl by > > java2wsdl, I hope the wsdl i get, depends on the standard spec. > > for wsdl!???? > > > > So there should no problem to use the wsdl by other languages!??? > > > > Dont know how it looks with complex datatypes!???? > > > > Do you all write your own wsdl by hand???? > > > > Tomi > > > > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- > > Von: David Cunningham [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Gesendet: Mittwoch, 12. Mai 2004 13:14 > > An: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Betreff: RE: Best Practices? > > > > > > I disagree, the right way is to start with your WSDL and schema files. If > > you want any hope of being WS-I compliant or using doc/literal this is > your > > best bet. As soon as you start with an interface, you start dealing Java > > types that do not correlate to schema types very well. For example, if you > > use: public List getStuff() or public String[] getStuff(), you will either > > generate a WSDL file that can't be parsed properly by other consumers > (.NET, > > Glue, etc) or be bound to Java collection types that have no chance of > being > > parsed properly by .Net (without a lot of hacking around). > > > > My recommendation, again personal preference, is always give thought to > the > > XML that is going across the wire and what you are trying to send/receive > > and in what structure. This is especially important when dealing with > > doc/literal since you are sending a single document over the wire. > > > > - david > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Dorner Thomas [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 2:03 AM > > To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' > > Subject: AW: Best Practices? > > > > The right way is to write a interface which includes all the Methods your > > webservice should offer. > > > > Then you use java2wsdl to generate your wsdl. You have to correct your > > parameternames in your auto generated wsdl, cause the the params looks > like > > in0, in1, in2... . > > > > Then you use wsdl2java to generate your stub, locator, skeleton, impl and > > maybe a testclient. > > > > Now you can implement and deploy your Service by unsing the addtional > > generated .wsdd files. > > > > Hope this helps you > > > > Tomi > > > > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- > > Von: Joe Plautz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Gesendet: Dienstag, 11. Mai 2004 18:48 > > An: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Betreff: Best Practices? > > > > > > I'm a newbie looking for guidance in creating WebServices with Axis. I've > > gone through the documentation backwards and forwards and have come up > with > > me own ways of doing things. I start with a WSDL that I create and use > > WSDL2Java to generate the code and go from there. What I'm looking for is > a > > best practices because I don't feel confident in the way I am going about > > it. > > > > Do most people start from a WSDL? Do people generate a WSDL from an > > interface and go from there? Do people just create a class and a WSDD > file? > > Or, do people use JWS files that accept a string and the string contains > xml > > formated text? > > > > If there are any sites that cover this information, please forward them on > > to me. > > > > Any help will be appreciated!!! > > > > Thanks, > > Joe Plautz > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > > >
