A UDDI Case Study

Don’t Forget the XML

Just as with the SOAP standard, UDDI describes multiple aspects—including how UDDI operates and how the XML underneath the information is presented. The information on UDDI sites is stored in a specific XML format. To see one of these XML files, return to http://uddi.microsoft.com and do a search on business name for “Sun Microsystems.” The links that come up are for Sun and one of its distributors. Click on the link for Sun and the results should look like Figure 5.9.

Figure 5.9: The results for searching for Sun Microsystems on http://uddi.microsoft.com.

Notice that the contact information for Sun is under “Business Details” and the contact information is just underneath that. If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page, you will find a subtitle labeled “Discovery URL.” Underneath that you’ll find the following URL: http://www3.ibm.com/services/uddi/uddiget?businessKey=F293EE60-8285-11D5-A3DA-002035229C64. This is the URL that represents Sun’s UDDI XML data. Click on that link and you’ll see some of the following XML code.

    <?xmlversion="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>    <businessDetail generic="1.0" xmlns="urn:uddi-org:api"                   operator="www.ibm.com/services/uddi"                    truncated="false">     <businessEntity authorizedName="1000000C5S"        operator="www.ibm.com/services/uddi"         businessKey="F293EE60-8285-11D5-A3DA-002035229C64">     <discoveryURLs>      <discoveryURLuseType="businessEntity">http://www-3.ibm.com/         services/uddi/uddiget?businessKey=F293EE60-8285-11D5-A3DA-        002035229C64</discoveryURL>      </discoveryURLs>      <name>Sun Microsystems</name>      <description xml:lang="en">Leading provider of         industrial-strength hardware, software and         services that power the Net</description>     <contacts>           <contact useType="Corporate Offices">       <personName>Sun Microsystems</personName>     <address>       <addressLine>901 San Antonio          Road</addressLine>       <addressLine>Palo Alto</addressLine>       <addressLine>CA 94303</addressLine>       <addressLine>USA</addressLine>     </address>     </contact>     </contacts>    <businessServices> <businessService serviceKey="02D4B1A0-8291-11D5-A3DA-002035229C64"    businessKey="F293EE60-8285-11D5-A3DA-002035229C64">  <name>Products & Solutions</name>  <description xml:lang="en">Sun's Hardware & Software     solutions</description> <bindingTemplates> <bindingTemplate bindingKey="62A3FA00-8291-11D5-A3DA-002035229C64"    serviceKey="02D4B1A0-8291-11D5-A3DA-002035229C64">  <accessPoint URLType="http">http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/     </accessPoint> <tModelInstanceDetails>  <tModelInstanceInfo tModelKey="UUID:68DE9E80-AD09-469D-8A37-    088422BFBC36" />  </tModelInstanceDetails>  </bindingTemplate>  </bindingTemplates>  </businessService>        ...and many more busineesService entries       </businessServices>    </businessDetail>

Note that the root element is businessDetail. It contains the operator attribute, which indicates where the entry is hosted. The businessEntity element contains information relevant to the corporation itself. The businessKey attribute is a unique identifier that is created by the UDDI Web site when the entry is made. The name element shows that this entry is for Sun Microsystems, the following element, description, provides information on the corporation, and then several elements give contact information.

Note

The binding keys, such as 62A3FA00-8291-11D5-A3DA-002035229C64, are unique identifiers that are created by the UDDI Web site when the entry is created.

The businessServices element contains several child elements that are specific to a particular business service. Note that it doesn’t necessarily describe a Web Service; in this case, the service entry brings you to a URL on Sun’s Web site that describes their products and solutions in general.

Lucikly, by using the GUIs on the UDDI sites, you can generate this XML just by entering some data into a Web form or by using the UDDI SDK provided by Microsoft and described in Appendix E.