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XML and Web Services In The News - 08 June 2006
Provided by OASIS |
Edited by Robin Cover
This issue of XML.org Daily Newslink is sponsored by Innodata Isogen
HEADLINES:
Expressing Dublin Core Metadata Using XML
Pete Johnston and Andy Powell, DCMI Working Draft
Members of the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Architecture Working
Group have released an initial public working draft for "Expressing
Dublin Core Metadata Using XML." The document specifies an XML format
("DC-XML") for representing a Dublin Core metadata description set. The
DCMI Abstract Model (DCAM) describes the constructs that make up a DC
metadata description set. In order to represent a DC metadata
description set in an XML document those constructs have to be
represented as components in that XML document, i.e., as XML elements
and XML attributes, XML element names and XML attribute names, and as
XML element content and XML attribute values. Design considerations
required that (1) the serialisation format should be possible to
represent all the constructs that make up a DC metadata description set;
(2) the format should not be dependent on features of a single XML
Schema language; (3) the format should be easily usable with XML-based
specifications such as XPath, XPointer and XQuery, i.e., for each
construct in the DCAM there should be a mapping to exactly one construct
in the XML syntax. The document defines one XML format for representing
DC metadata description sets in XML. Other formats may exist supporting
other subsets of the DCMI Abstract Model. For example, the Open
Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) defines
a format, commonly known as oai_dc, which supports the serialisation
only of description sets containing a single description, with
statements referencing only the fifteen properties of the DCMES, and
using value strings only. oai_dc is a different XML format from DC-XML,
but that does not change the value and usefulness of oai_dc as a format
for serialising that particular subset of DC metadata description sets.
See also: the DCMI Abstract Model
W3C Launches Web Services Policy Working Group
World Wide Web Consortium, Announcement
W3C recently announced the launch of a new Web Services Policy Working
Group with Paul Cotton (Microsoft) and Chris Ferris (IBM) as co-Chairs.
The group is chartered through 31 December 2007 to standardize a general
policy framework for expressing Web service capabilities and
requirements. The framework consists of a policy data model for
expressing capabilities and requirements of a Web Service, a
processing model for combining and comparing Web service capabilities
and requirements and an XML Information Set representation for the
policy data model. The Working Group will refine the 'WS-Policy' Member
Submission, addressing implementation experience and interoperability
feedback from the specifications, maximizing compatibility with
existing policy assertions, and considering composition with other
components in the Web services architecture.
See also: the W3C news item
WS-I Sample App Blog Series
David Burdett, SAP Blog
IBM, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, and SAP recently released draft Sample
Application packages which provide implementations of the guidance
provided in WS-I's Basic Security Profile 1.0. The materials were
produced within the Sample Applications Working Group, which defines
illustrative scenarios that would benefit from interoperable Web
services applications and designs sample applications that demonstrate
the application of the WS-I profiles to those scenarios. Burdett's blog
describes how to download the "beta" WS-I Sample Application that runs
on the SAP NetWeaver Application Server. This sample application
implements both the WS-I Basic Profile and the WS-I Basic Security
Profile and interoperates with solutions from IBM, Microsoft, Novell,
and Oracle. The main idea behind the WS-I Sample Application activity
is to develop interoperable solutions from multiple software vendors,
that implement Web services specifications that comply with the
"profiles" developed by WS-I. These sample implementations, developed
by several software vendors, are then tested against each other to make
sure that they interoperate.
See also: WS-I
Object-Oriented JavaScript
Greg Brown, XML.com
JavaScript is not generally considered a robust programming language,
especially when compared to languages such as Java or C#: it is
interpreted, rather than compiled; it is dynamically, rather than
statically, typed; and it is commonly considered a procedural, rather
than an object-oriented, language. However, the demands on JavaScript
as a development platform are growing with the increasing popularity
of so-called AJAX applications. The procedural development model
commonly used to add basic client-side interactivity to web pages
today will not scale to support the level of UI complexity required by
these applications. Fortunately, and contrary to popular belief, it
is possible to apply object-oriented (OO) design principles in
JavaScript, which can help manage this complexity. Although it may not
offer features as powerful as C# or Java, JavaScript is more capable
than many web developers may know, and it can be used to provide the
structure of object-oriented development to the growing number of AJAX
applications currently being deployed on the web.
IBM's 'Viper' Database Will Uncoil July 28
China Martens, InfoWorld
IBM is positioning DB2 9 as one of its most important database releases
in recent years, given its capacity to store and manage not only
structured relational data but also unstructured XML data such as audio,
video and Web pages natively. That additional ability contrasts with
rival products from Microsoft and Oracle which rely on the older, slower
approach of reformatting XML data or placing it in a large object before
storing it as relational data. According to IBM's announcement, "DB2 9
marks the culmination of a five-year IBM development project that
transformed traditional, static database technology into an interactive,
vibrant data server that merges the high performance and ease of use of
DB2 with the flexible, self-describing benefits that XML offers. DB2 9
is a new data server that includes patented pureXML technology that
promises to be a fundamental shift in how XML data is stored and managed.
pureXML is a radical departure from storing XML as an object or
shredding xml data to a relational table. DB2 9 handles XML as a new
data type stored in its natural hierarchy, allowing clients to manage
both conventional relational data and pure XML data. This pureXML feature
is unique to DB2 9 that will dramatically reduce the complexity and
time a developer spends creating applications. Another breakthrough is
the DB2 9 storage compression technology that provides a new row-based
approach for compressing data objects, resulting in significant disk,
I/O and memory savings."
See also: DB2 9 web site
Airbus Flies on Web Services
John Blau, InfoWorld
European aircraft builder Airbus is implementing a Web services-based
travel management application from SAP as a first step in a planned
group-wide migration to a service-oriented architecture. The
manufacturer is installing the travel management component of SAP's
new ERP (enterprise resource planning) software, mySAP ERP 2004, which
uses SOA (service-oriented architecture) technology. The new system
replaces a home-grown system at the company's plant in France, a
Lotus-based system in its Spanish operations and earlier SAP versions
at facilities in Germany and the U.K., James Westgarth, manager of
travel technology procurement at Airbus, said last week in an interview
at the European Sapphire customer event in Paris. "We like the idea of
an open architecture, which SOA enables," Westgarth said. "We like the
idea of being able to manage everything internally and to cherry-pick
for the best solution in every class." The decision to deploy a new Web
services-based travel management system was driven in large part by a
need to reduce administration costs and improve business processes.
Airbus has an travel budget of 250 million euro ($320 million), which
is used to help pay for more than 180,000 trips annually. The company
aims to reduce costs by eliminating the current paper-based
reimbursement process, which consumes time and labor, with a system
that enables employees to process their own travel expenses online
from their desktops or mobile devices.
See also: patents and open standards
DIX: Digital Identity Exchange Protocol
J. Merrells, et al., IETF Network Working Group Internet Draft
This document specifies a binding and two profiles of the Security
Assertion Markup Language (SAML) for identity information message
exchanges, a discovery protocol based on HTML/HTTP, a message signing
mechanism based on HMAC, and a signature verification protocol based
on HTML/HTTP. The DIX protocol participants are: an Identity Agent,
the User Client, and a Service Provider. The DIX User is a person
who participates in DIX based identity information exchanges using
their User Client software, which is typically a web browser. The
user's Identity Agent (either a website or an application) is
responsible for authenticating and identifying the user, providing
a repository for their identity data, and releasing that data (with
user consent) to other sites using the DIX protocol via the user's
client. A Service Provider is a website that uses the DIX protocol
to request or store identity information. Identity Data or Identity
Information are attribute values associated with a DIX User. The
protocol flow between the participants proceeds in three stages:
1) Discovery of an Identity Agent, 2) Exchange of identity
information, and 3) Verification of that exchange.
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