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Published: May 2001
Key Points
- XML Web services allow applications to share data.
- XML Web services can be called across platforms and
operating systems and regardless of programming language.
- .NET is Microsoft's platform for XML Web services.
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The XML Revolution
Although deceptively simple, XML is turning the way we build and use
software inside out. The Web revolutionized how users talk to
applications. XML is revolutionizing how applications talk to other
applications--or more broadly, how computers talk to other computers--by
providing a universal data format that lets data be easily adapted or
transformed. XML-based standards, which include SOAP and UDDI, comprise
the open methodology for application-to-application communication known
as XML Web services.
XML Web services: A Universal Language
XML Web services allow applications to communicate regardless of
operating system or programming language via the Internet. They can be
implemented on any platform and are defined through public standards
organizations such as the W3C. And with XML Web services, not only can
applications share data, but they can also invoke capabilities from
other applications without regard to how other applications were built.
Sharing data through XML allows them to be independent of each other
while simultaneously giving them the ability to loosely link themselves
into a collaborating group that performs a particular task.
Web sites vs. XML Web services
Web sites are about presenting information to a user: they are the
communication vehicle for servers to talk to users. XML Web services, on
the other hand, offer a direct means for applications to interact with
other applications. Applications hosted internally, as well as on remote
systems, can communicate via the Internet by using XML and SOAP
messages.
How XML Web services Connect Applications
Here's a simple example: say you have an inventory system. If you don't
connect it to anything else, it's not very valuable. You can track
inventory, but it's a lot of work, and what that one system can do all
by itself is limited. Every item you sell needs to be entered not only
into your inventory system, but also separately into your accounting
system, and your customer account records. Then you need to remember to
order more of that item from your suppliers next time you place an
order. The cost/benefit ratio is largely unappealing, because the gains
from the system are close to the overhead costs of using it.
However, if you connect your inventory system to your accounting
system with XML, it gets more interesting. Now, whenever you buy or sell
something, the implications for your inventory and your cash flow can be
tracked in one step. If you go further, and connect your warehouse
management system, customer ordering system, supplier ordering systems,
and your shipping company with XML, suddenly that inventory management
system is worth a lot: you can do end-to-end management of your business
while dealing with each transaction only once, instead of once for every
system it affects. A lot less work, and a lot less room for errors.
These connections can be made easily using XML Web services. XML Web
services allow the applications to share information via the Internet,
regardless of the operating system or back-end software that the
application is using.
.NET is about XML Web services
Microsoft's XML Web services platform is .NET. The first set of XML Web
services Microsoft is building is codenamed "HailStorm".
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