Web Services

[Eternal Student]

OK, I am trying to find about 'Web Services' because I know very little about it.

I know that it is pretty much XML driven and I know a little about UDDIs (not entirely sure how they work tho?)

but can anyone explain in detail how it works and how an enterprise could use it to their benefits?

I mean HOW could an enterprise use it? What sort of things is it capable of achieving?/

Thanks for sharing the knowledge guys.

[txbakers]

Web Services. The term has been hyped beyond belief.

Essentially - a web service is a way for two computers to communicate using a very basic protocol and language. The protocol is SOAP and the language is XML..

That said, it really is very complicated. One computer needs some information. It passes an XML string to the second computer. The second computer reads the XML and does what it needs to do, and sends back the result in XML.

The complexity arises because both computers need to know what to do with the XML being sent. That is the WSDL - a set of instructions to implement what is being sent back and forth.

Rather than go into greater detail here, I would visit IBM and Microsoft sites to read their hype on it.

It is a good thing. It will get better as more programmers figure out how to make it less complex.

[Eternal Student]

Yea it is quite involved!

Im just trying to find out what an enterprise would need to do to suck in a web service or actually offer one.

[Sanenet]

Example: amazon.com. Uses web services to send data to affiliates, doesn't matter what language / platform they're using. Perfect example!

BTW, try out Cold Fusion MX, it handles XML and web services as a matter of course.