XML and Web Services In The News - 28 May 2004

Atom Project: W3C Working Group
Karl Dubost and other W3C Team members, Draft Mockup
W3C team members have prepared a draft of what could be an Atom Working Group Charter if technical work on the Atom syndication format were to be hosted at W3C. The draft is characterized by W3C's Karl Dubost as "just a mockup and nothing official." Draft mission statement: "The Working Group will be chartered to define Atom, a feed format for representing and a protocol for editing Web resources such as Weblogs, online journals, Wikis, and similar content. The feed format enables syndication; that is, provision of a channel of information by representing multiple resources in a single document. The editing protocol enables agents to interact with resources by nominating a way of using existing Web standards in a pattern." W3C Team members contributing to the draft include Dan Brickley, Karl Dubost, Max Froumentin, and Matt May.
See also: the IETF WG Proposal

The Mozilla Project and XUL
David Mertz, IBM developerWorks
In Part 2 of a serial article on GUIs and XML configuration data, David discusses how XML is used in the configuration of GUI interfaces. He looks at Mozilla's XML-based User Interface Language (XUL) which allows you to write applications that run without any particular dependency on the choice of underlying operating system. This may seem strange at first, but you'll soon see that this Mozilla project offers powerful tools for GUI building that allow you to develop for an extensive base of installed users. Mozilla is now much more than a browser: it is a whole component and GUI architecture. Indeed, Mozilla is more cross-platform and more widely installed on user systems than probably any other GUI library you are likely to consider. What you might think of as general purpose GUI/widget libraries -- Qt, wxWindows, GTK, FOX, MFC, .NET, Carbon, and so on -- have various advantages and disadvantages. But none of them can be assumed to be already installed across user systems. Many of them are only available on a subset of the platforms Mozilla supports, and most are relatively difficult to install or have licensing issues. Mozilla is worth installing just because it is such a great browser; once you have it, you have a free platform for custom applications. To be completely cross-platform in your Mozilla/XUL applications, you need to restrict yourself to configuring GUIs in XUL and programming their logic in JavaScript.
See also: XUL References

Schema Binding for Java Web Services
Mitch Gitman, O'Reilly WebServices.XML.com
Sometimes you just wish software architects weren't so creative or, at least, were more coordinated. It seems that's what happened with SOAP, the standard format for web services messages. The SOAP specification started out defining a lot of protocol-specific XML structures that now, in hindsight, could obviously better be delegated to the W3C XML Schema language, the whole purpose of which is to define the structure of XML documents. It's a disconnect that the Java community is still working out. In this article the author explores the oft-misunderstood relationship between Java web services platforms and the W3C XML Schema (WXS) binding frameworks that convert between XML and XML-agnostic objects. He also looks at how to leverage schema binding using various Java Web services toolkits and runtimes Glue, with Electric XML+, and WebLogic Server, with XMLBeans, seamlessly allow you to serialize XML interchangeably within Web services and without. WASP requires some do-it-yourself to use its XML serializer independent of SOAP. The Axis+Castor marriage is more of a kludge. It's also worth mentioning the Java Web Services Developer Pack 1.3. The JWSDP contains Sun's reference implementation of the JAX-RPC 1.1 specification for mediating between the Java world and the SOAP/WSDL worlds. The Java API for XML-based RPC, now in version 1.1, has had to evolve from its RPC/encoded legacy, but its default bindings do influence other SOAP engines.
See also: XML Schemas

BEA To Emphasize Software as Architected Services
Charles Babcock, InformationWeek
BEA Systems has launched its Liquid Computing strategy, which is designed to get business processes to flow through a company without regard for boundaries set by the IT infrastructure. Liquid Computing is a brand name for what BEA Systems will make its recommended approach to IT infrastructure and services-oriented architecture. BEA execs say they hope their customers will use the WebLogic product set -- Application Server, Portal, Integration, and Workshop -- to build software as a service that can be called over a network. Instead of large, monolithic systems, a services-oriented architecture divides existing apps into discrete parts with Java interfaces. The functionality can be called out as needed to work for a new application, such as a Web application, or as part of a "composite" application that depends on several different legacy systems. New apps developed to the service-oriented-architecture model also would be modular, able to work separately.

Security at Heart of Microsoft, Sun Web Services Tools
Darryl K. Taft, eWEEK
Microsoft's Web Services Enhancements 2.0 and Sun's Java Web Services Developer Pack 1.4 enable developers to rapidly build and deploy secure and interoperable Web services. WSE 2.0 supports the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Systems (OASIS) WS-Security specification. It also supports WS-Policy and WS-SecurityPolicy, for expressing communication and security requirements; WS-Trust, for issuing and obtaining security tokens; WS-SecureConversation, for secure Web services conversations; and WS-Addressing, for identifying Web services endpoints and supporting transmission of messages. The Java Web Services Developer Pack (Java WSDP) Version 1.4 enables developers to more rapidly build and deploy secure and interoperable Web services. Sun said Java WSDP has had 1.2 million downloads to date, and Java WSDP 1.4 also supports the OASIS WS-Security specification, allowing developers to build reliable Web services, including XML digital signature, XML message encryption and authentication for Web services applications.
See also: the WSE 2.0 news story

RFID and Privacy: Debate Heating Up in Washington
Grant Gross, InfoWorld
Privacy advocates and some lawmakers are pushing a debate over potential privacy abuses from the growing use of radio frequency identification chips as huge retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. move toward large-scale use of the technology. RFID uses small computer chips and antennas that are integrated into a paper or plastic label. Those chips can then be read by an electronic scanner, and unlike barcodes, RFID chips withstand dirt and scratches and can be scanned from distances upward of 25 feet (750 centimeters). Privacy advocates worry that the technology will allow other uses, such as real-time tracking of customers in stores, or even after they leave stores. Privacy advocates see the potential for retailers and other companies to be able to track consumers long after a consumer purchases an item -- for example, a tennis shoe manufacturer scanning a sporting event for the number of people wearing its product.
See also: Physical Markup Language for RFID

Java Web Services Developer Pack V1.4 Supports WSS and WS-I Specifications.
XML Cover Pages
Sun has announced Java Web Services Developer Pack (Java WSDP) v1.4 along with Sun Java System Application Server 7 Enterprise Edition. Java WSDP is a free integrated toolkit that allows Java developers to build and test XML applications, Web services, and Web applications. Java WSDP 1.4 has been enhanced to support the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) Basic Profile 1.1 with Attachments Profile 1.0. It also provides full implementation support for the OASIS Web Services Security (WSS) specification, with message level security for SOAP.