Re: RPG as Web service

WSDL = Web Service Description Language. It is the service definition for your web service. The idea is you can point a tool at the WSDL file and it can generate a client that can use your web service. There is no need to have this generated dynamically.

Also, there isn't anything about CGI that prevents you from creating a standards based web service. What's missing are the tools to do all of the grunt work assembling the bits and pieces and XML parsing.

Matt

-----Original Message-----
From: web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Syd Nicholson
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 4:40 PM
To: Web Enabling the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: Re: [WEB400] RPG as Web service

Hi Nathan,

IceBreak does comply with "Web Services" and implements services like SOAP,
XML, etc. It is a simple matter to create SOAP, XML, etc. with RPG in
IceBreak. It is not limited to the HTTP protocol.

I am not sure what WSDL files are, I've never to used them - I will need to
check with the IceBreak manufacturers if this is included in Icebreak.
Perhaps if thy are monitoring this thread they can reply!.

Syd


----- Original Message -----
From: "Nathan Andelin" <nandelin@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "Web Enabling the AS400 / iSeries" <web400@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 8:27 PM
Subject: Re: [WEB400] RPG as Web service

From: Dr Syd Nicholson
The web service(s) I have created in IceBreak work very well and
very fast ...

I appreciate your endorsement of IceBreak, but it still sounds like you
and I are out of sync, regarding what constitutes a web service. And that
seems to be a common problem. The term "web service" seems to be applied
overly broadly to any process that makes HTTP requests, or generates HTTP
responses. But the standards bodies try to limit the term to more
specific protocols, using WSDL files, SOAP messages, and XML, etc.

Actually, I don't understand web services protocol that well, myself. I
think Aaron Bartell and Scott Klement understand it a lot better than I,
for example. Perhaps like you, I'm much more familiar with HTTP protocol,
where data is exchanged using little more than &name=value pairs, and
prefaced by HTTP request or response headers.

For the sake of this discussion, I'd suggest that we stick to web services
that implement WSDL, SOAP, XML, specifications, etc. Does IceBreak
generate or consume WSDL files, for example? Have the folks who created
IceBreak written anything to consume Web services?

Nathan.