Summary

We have now designed, developed, and deployed two Web services; one based on a Java class and one based on a COM object. We addressed some issues in working with two different development environments and saw what each had to offer during the process. We got to work with two different parsers, each taking different approaches to accomplish the same objectives.

We looked at different ways we can provide XML data back to our consumers. Those approaches could extend beyond even Web services to help us in working with XML more efficiently in other applications. We also got a pretty good look at implementing security for a Web service. We created a certificate authority and used it to generate client certificates and modified our Web service to require their use by consumers. We have accomplished quite a bit in this chapter, but we have actually just hit the tip of the iceberg in the development of Web services.

In the next chapter, we will need to combine all of these approaches and take on the building of a Web services workflow. Although this will also be working off of an existing service, it is an entire system, not just a single component or class. We will have to address state and session maintenance, and we will be providing some additional functionality to make the Web service a robust offering to consumers. It will basically be more complex and require us to extend our understanding and use of Web services.