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Advances in Web
Technologies
By Joscelyn Dias
Outline
Applets, ActiveX
XML
Web services
Applet
Component that runs in the web browser
Features : displays, graphics for user
intraction
Runs in a container of the host provider i.e
Java Virtual Machine (JVM)
Delivered in the form of Java bytecode
Platform independent
Browser support
ActiveX
Component based on Microsoft COM
ActiveX controls
to build their feature-set
encapsulate their functionality
Functionality can be embedded in other
applications eg. Internet Explorer
Required the COM Runtime
These building blocks result in custom apps
Viewing many kinds of files, display animation/videos,
collect data
XML
eXtensible Markup Language
Unlike HTMLs pre-defined tags
Meta-markup language
allows definition of infinite number of markup
languages.
based upon the standards defined by XML
Eg. Contact List Markup Language
<CONTACT>
<NAME>Bill Gates</NAME>
<ID>001</ID>
<COMPANY>Microsoft Corporation</COMPANY>
<EMAIL>[email protected]</EMAIL>
<PHONE>425-882-8080</PHONE>
<STREET>1835 73rd Ave NE</STREET>
<CITY>Medina</CITY>
<STATE>Washington</STATE>
<ZIP>WA 98039</ZIP>
</CONTACT>
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XML Tags unlimited
Not restricted to a limited set of tags
Standards bodies, browser companies not
required to adopt tag set enhancements
incorporate the functionality of zillions of tag
sets
Organizations, industry build their own tag
library sets to meet its unique needs
architectural specifications, musical notation,
chemical formula etc.
XML Not just Format
<LI>Bill Gates
<UL>
<LI>ID: 001
<LI>Company: Microsoft Corporation
<LI>Email: [email protected]
<LI>Phone: 425-882-8080
<LI>Street Address: 1835 73rd Ave NE
<LI>City: Medina
<LI>State: Washington
<LI>Zip: WA 98039
</UL>
In HTML
The GUI is embedded
in the data
Searching for
information in the
data is tough
The data is tied to the
logic and language of
HTML
XML Not just Format
With XML, the GUI is extracted
Separate style sheets can specify formatting
With XSL, XML documents provided, browser can
render HTML as output
Tags provide intelligent information needed
Searching data is easy and efficient
Can be performed by search engines
Complex relationships like trees and inheritance
represented
XML is self-describing to non domain person
XML additions
Encoded(markup) data must be decoded
Document Type Definition (DTD)
Definition of a valid markup
Standard rules including:
The syntax for marking up
The meaning behind the markup
XML Schema
Datatyping, structure, validation framework for
processing
XML challenges
XML requires a processing application (eg.
parsers)
XML documents must be converted into
HTML or by middle-ware
Parsing routines in DHTML or Server-Side
Java etc. and apply format in style-sheet
Parsers are generally efficient and widely
available from software providers
XML Today
To encode documents
To serialize data
Information systems to share structured
data - via the Internet
Different kinds of computers, applications,
organizations
Reduced layers of conversions
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Web Services
Web APIs invoke a service (Service Requester)
Services accessed over a network, eg. Internet
Service provided by execution on remote system
(Service Provider)
Hosts provide the service eg. WebServer
Clients and servers communicating on the Web
using HTTP protocol
W3C defined
Interoperability of machine-to-machine
Provide interaction over a network
Encompasses many different systems
Web services
A Web service is a software system designed to
support interoperable machine-to-machine
interaction over a network. It has an interface
described in a machine-processable format
(specifically WSDL).
Other systems interact with the Web service in a
manner prescribed by its description using
SOAP messages, typically conveyed using
HTTP with an XML serialization in conjunction
with other Web-related standards .
Where do Web services fit in?
It is yet another paradigm for developing
enterprise applications that are
collaborative and distributed
Cobol 1960s
Hierarchical/network dbms 1970s
RDBMS 1980s
Java, asp, jsp, perl, .net oo technology 1990s
XML, application server, Web services 2000s
Enterprise requirements
Stand alone applications 1960s
MIS applications 1970s
ERPs 1980s
CRM, workflow, collaborative suits- 1990s
Web applications across company
boundaries 2000s
Complexities on rise
Applications are becoming more demanding
Hardware/ software features are improving
Network and internet is becoming ubiquitous
New paradigms depending on technology
available
cobol/.. Subroutines sharing code within
Rdbms Sharing data
OO technology- reusing same code across
applications
COM/DCOM/Corba- reusing implementations
Web services sharing services over the net
Enterprise computing
Enterprise applications are becoming
more demanding.
Web based applications becoming de-
facto standard for business applications
XML is becoming very popular for
communication and various vocabularies.
No standard protocols or vocabulary for
collaborations
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What technology can offer?
Better programming tools
Integrated development tools
Program generators: widgets, application
generators, stubs, etc
Ease of integrating existing programs/code
Existing scenario
Most organizations have legacy applications
Resistance to discard systems totally
Need for wrappers to use existing applications as far as possible
Diverse platforms ( os, languages, technologies used)
What is Web services paradigm?
Service oriented architecture ( SOA)
To develop/ architect world class
enterprise services based on standards
and best practices
Client application is built as concatenation
of existing web services
Web services and App Capability
application
Capability A
Capability b Capability C
Capability A
Capability B
Capability C
Client
Application
URL
addresses
n
e
t
w
o
r
k
WS Protocol Standards used
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
standard
Using XML messages
Web Services Description Language
(WSDL).
Description of the operations offered by the
service
Technology Standards involved
XML Extensible Markup Language
SOAP Simple Object Access protocol
WSDL Web Service Description Language
UDDI Universal Description, Discovery
and Integration
XML
Semantic markup language supports
expressing application and functional
semantics in a platform independent
manner and enables any to any
information exchange
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SOAP
Simple Object Access protocol is an XML
based mechanism for exchanging
information between applications within
distributed environment and can be used
to implement RPC
WSDL
WSDL is an XML based language for
describing web services. It describes the
location of remote web service, the
functions it implements and how to access
each function.
UDDI
UDDI is specification for registry of
information for web services. It defines
means to publish and discover web
services.