Developing a Web Service

These are the basic steps involved in implementing a Web service:

Define Application Interprocess Messages

Define the interprocess messages (IPMs) that describe the "request" and corresponding "reply" that your server will use. If you are using an existing server, this step may already be completed. If you use HP Data Definition Language (DDL) to define your IPMs, you will be able to use the SOAPam Service Definition Wizard to automatically generate the required Service Definition File for you.

Create the Application Servers

Create the Pathway or Guardian server that will implement the service method for the IPMs you defined. If you are using an existing server, this step is already completed; you do not need to make any special changes for SOAPam Server. Otherwise, you must create the server that will perform the service method. The server must be a standard $RECEIVE-based server. You can create the server in any language using any tools you care to.

Create the Service Definition

Create the Service Definition File (SDF) that describes the Web service and the mapping to your server. The Service Definition File (SDF) tells SOAPam Server how to map SOAP requests it receives to server request IPMs and replies to SOAP responses. There are three ways to create an SDF:

1. 1. Use the Service Definition Wizard. The Wizard will convert existing DDL DEFinitions to the corresponding SDF entries.
   2. Create the Service Definition File by hand. You can use any text editor, although you may find it easier to use an XML aware editor.
   3. Use the Service Definition Wizard to generate the SDF initially, then modify it by hand.

Create the Application Client

Create the client application. You create your client application using the web service client tool of your choice.