MultiValue ToolsThis page contains follow-ups to the article : Web
Services and .NET (Part 3) Before we get started with the notes, I'd like to acknowledge that the technologies mentioned in the article can be used in many ways and that there are no absolute ways of doing anything. I'm sure many of you will be able to cite some parts of this article as having a rather narrow view of some of the products discussed. In some cases I lump products together as though they are exactly the same, or I neglect to mention how each is different from the others. But there is only so much space available to convey a lot of information, and the small nuances in various products are not unique enough to merit digression from the overall message. I wish we had more WS options, but I'm confident that Pick/MV developers can develop whatever they want with almost any tool we have available to us. As I've said in other places, the answer is not in the tools but in how we use them. If someone is more interested in the capabilities or usage of the tools mentioned, I'm sure they will ask the vendors. -- Tony Follow-up to: …mainstream* Follow-up to: Web Services are huge* Follow-up to: …packaging/messaging protocols* Follow-up to: …MessageQueue-like* Follow-up to: …Capacity Planning* Follow-up to: …freeware* Follow-up to: …special web server component* Follow-up to: …via a socket* Follow-up to: …WSDL* Follow-up to: …Windows and D3* Follow-up to: …XML server product* Follow-up to: …web connectivity components* Follow-up to: The Sprezzatura Group* Follow-up to: …unable to find other toolkits* Follow-up to: …PDP.NET does not directly create or support Web Services* Follow-up to: IBM is firmly behind Web Services.* Follow-up to: …any environment which supports a Java interface* Follow-up to: …business benefits* Follow-up to: OBjEX is a library* Follow-up to: …middle-tier component* Follow-up to: …Viságe* Follow-up to: …return text to a web server* Follow-up to: …part or all of the transport via HTTP* Follow-up to: …considerations* Follow-up to: …sockets* Follow-up to: …cURL* Reference to: Products mentioned in the article MainstreamMany people hate separating MV products from others with the term "mainstream", but many people also perceive Pick-related products as very non-mainstream. I put quotes around the term "mainstream" to acknowledge both sides of the argument. Web Services are hugeI've seen a quote that says "Gartner Dataquest estimates that
the software and IT professional services opportunity related to Web
services will reach $28 billion by 2005." I don't know if that's accurate but it sure sounds encouraging. Here
is a link to Gartner's Web Services page so you can see exactly what
they have to say: According to Gina Poole, VP of Developer Marketing and Web communities
for IBM and Developer Relations, "We have a number of programs
to help developers get started. We have had over 100,000 developers
participate in the Speed-start Linux program. The Speed-start Web services
program is newer but we already have 40,000 developers participating.
It's interesting to see the groundswell around Linux and Web services."
- Database Trends and Applications interview entitled "Web Services
Will Reshape How Developers Think": The SOAP Gatewaypackaging/messaging protocols MessageQue-like Capacity Planning Capillaryfreeware special web server component via a socket WSDL Windows and D3 FusionwareXML server product Sprezzaturaweb connectivity components The Sprezzatura Group Other ToolkitsIf you know of a toolkit in our market then this is the place where people will find out about it. Please e-mail me with updates and I'll be happy to post them right here. I recommend visitors come back here in about a month to check for updates. Pick Data Provider .NETThe End User License Agreement for PDP originally expressly prohibited its usage in a Web Services architecture. I've verified that this is no longer the case, and recent PDP Marketing confirms that Raining Data advocates and approves this use of PDP. WebSphere
Other links are provided in notes for previous articles (Article 1 and Article 2). For a focus on WebSphere and Web Services, I didn't go through this
tutorial yet, but it looks interesting. If anyone does go through it,
please let me know what you think. IBM announced a new UO.NET at the Spectrum conference in Las Vegas. This will be a fully .NET compliant version of UniObjects. I'll provide more info here and elsewhere when IBM releases more information about it. environment which support a Java interface Back to Java, there are many tools that are available and in development which facilitate creating Web Services which can then be tied to MV applications via Java components. One example is JavaServer Faces. Mike Peternell of IBM is scheduled to give a presentation on Web Services at the Spectrum conference in March. Here is what he had to say to me on the topic. "…enter Java Server Faces (JSF) into the picture and it's a whole new ballgame. WebSphere Studio Application Developer (WSAD) with JSF is basically Visual Studio for Java. It's a very, very cool thing." Mike also mentioned a RAD tool called Rapid Developer brought to IBM as part of the Rational acquisition. Mike believes this will be a nice tool for the MV community. business benefits So How do you access U2 from WebSphere?WebSphere can take a class definition and create a server-side Web Service interface for it, including WSDL. Connecting the dots: a WS client makes a SOAP call to this WebSphere interface, the call is passed to the RedBack object on the RedBack Business Object Server where a connection has already been established to U2, and your BASIC business rule is executed. Voilá! Thanks to Scott Rau and Mike Peternell of IBM, and to Paul Batten of AdvancedWare, for providing information about Web Services integration with U2 using RedBack and WebSphere. OBjEX and jRCSFundamentally, all of these connectivity components and their ODBC/JDBC counterparts are the same. Traditionally we have some client code (maybe a GUI) using the library to access our MV back-end. With a Web Service we replace that client tier with code to accept a request from the web and parse the XML for the information required to satisfy the request. Only the data is passed through the connectivity component to the MV server. The result is returned from the application, transparently wrapped in XML, and then passed back to the WS client. There are few, if any connectivity components like this in our market which are 100% cross-platform compatible with all MV environments. This means, for the most part, that the tools you choose may primarily depend on the MV platform you plan to support. middle-tier component Web ToolsViságe return text to a web server part or all of the transport via HTTP Special note: Bryan Shumsky, Director of Engineering for Via Systems, informed me that WebWizard is available from Via Systems as well as from EagleRock Information Systems. (Thanks Bryan!) MV as Web Service Client?considerations We at Nebula R&D have successfully implemented a number of these architectures and we're prepared to assist with your projects. Our new NebulaPay Payment Processing software internally uses HTTP to communicate with other processes. NebulaPay will soon be available for most MV DBMS platforms. sockets Note that some people used to think of sockets as being a way to get free access to and from their MV environment, but MV vendors need to protect their assets, and they are entitled to compensation when their products are being used. Please be sure to check your End User License Agreement (EULA) regarding legal use of sockets and other forms of connectivity outside of common telnet and serial ports. See also the special article on this site about sockets. cURL Products mentioned in the article(Some products don't have web pages or I may have simply missed them. Please e-mail me for leads to product information.) Capillary : cURL - Information about cURL is available at SourceForge (http://sourceforge.net/projects/curl/) and (http://curl.haxx.se/) Nebula R&D has a lot of experience working with cURL and other interfaces from MV to the web, and we'll be happy to work with you to implement connectivity like this with your business applications. WebWizard: Easy Computing Company LLC Fusionware : http://fusionware.net/products.htm IBM® : jBASE Northgate : Raining Data: Revelation: Stamina Software: Sun Microsystems : |
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