Overview

Web services are starting to emerge as a key component of conducting business across the Internet.

A Web service is a piece of application logic that can provide some functionality to other applications connecting to it using Web-based protocols. Normally used in the context of Internet business-to-business, there is no reason why departments within a company could not use Web services to work together.

The precise implementation of a Web service is irrelevant, assuming it adheres to some agreed protocols and formats, freeing up organizations to be creative and perhaps start to convert existing applications into Web services. In fact, other Web service types often talk about e-services, dynamic services, and smart services all of which fall under the same definition as our Web service (see Figure 9.1).

Figure 9.1: Typical Web service.

Web services can be linked to create a workflow application or maybe process a business transaction.

9.1 Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)

Out of all the acronyms that pervade the computing industry SOAP must be one of the most bizarre and a testament to the resourceful nature of the protocol inventors. That aside, SOAP is set to change the way in which applications are written for the Internet.