Understanding SOAP Web Services

Web services provide a means for third-party clients to interact with our Spring Web MVC service layer to execute business logic and perform data retrieval or persistence. In the following lesson, we will explore SOAP web services. Our focus will be on providing and implementing web services, rather than client implementations.

Primary Goal of Web Services

The primary goal of web services is to enable seamless interaction and integration of diverse systems over the internet. This capability makes it easier to build distributed applications, leveraging the strengths of different systems and platforms to work together efficiently.

These lessons will guide you through the essentials of web services, helping you understand how to implement them effectively in your projects.

Definition of “SOAP” Web Services

• W3C Definition: A software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network.

  Key Characteristics

  1. Standardized Interfaces
  • Use XML messaging systems for communication.
    1. Interoperability
  • Facilitate interaction across different applications and platforms by adhering to web standards.
    1. Protocol Support
  • Common protocols: HTTP, SOAP, REST.
    1. Service Description
  • Described using WSDL (Web Services Description Language).
    1. Discovery
  • Services can be discovered using UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration).
    1. Loose Coupling
  • Service and client can evolve independently as long as the interface contract is maintained.