IWS (IBM Integrated Web Service) is now built into V5R4 and V6R1. It is
very simple and easy to use. Exposing an ILE program or service program
as a web service is reduced to an administrative task.
All the Java code and XML is generated by the wizard, you never see it.
It uses the Java 1.5 32 bit JVM. That makes it smaller (less memory)
and faster (performance) than a full Websphere WAS.
If you need to expose an ILE program or service program this is the way
to go provided you can live within its limitations. Some of the key
ones are:
Limited to seven parameters in the entry point. Any of these parameters
can be data structures, even arrays of data structures.
Web Services Handbook for WebSphere Application Server Version 6.1
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg247257.pdf
See chapter 9, "Web services interoperability"
IWS meets
* Basic Profile 1.1 excluding UDDI V2.0
* SOAP Binding Profile 1.0
IWS does not meet
* WS-I Attachment Profile V1.0 (no attachments)
* Basic Security Profile 1.0 Draft (only basic user authorization
against a Validation object, type VLDL -- the validation object can be
maintained (users added/deleted, passwords changed) through the Apache
web server administration pages).
The WSDL is generated by the Integrated Web Services server.
Customizing it is possible and makes it "brittle" since it is not longer
kept in sync with the web service by the wizards.
Bill Blalock
-----Original Message-----
From: web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Nathan Andelin
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 10:55 AM
To: Web Enabling the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: Re: [WEB400] RPG as Web service
From: Dr Syd Nicholson
Take a look at IceBreak ... uses RPG to create web services.
Thanks for the suggestion, but I'd like to see more in-depth discussion.
I recall an article, written by Jon Paris about using CGIDEV2 to
generate formatted XML responses from templates, but it seems to me that
ILE based web services need a lot more plumbing than that, if they're
going to get off the ground.
I also recall Brad Stone saying that Aaron Bartell knew his XML stuff.
Well, Brad used an explicative instead of saying "stuff", but the point
is that web services involve generating and consuming WSDL files, and
SOAP messages, and stuff like that. There's a lot more to it than
generating XML.
Nathan.
midrange.com
