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XML and Web Services In The News - 01 December 2006
Provided by OASIS |
Edited by Robin Cover
This issue of XML Daily Newslink is sponsored by IBM Corporation
HEADLINES:
Extensible Markup Language (XML) Configuration Access Protocol (XCAP)
Jonathan Rosenberg (ed), Approved IETF Internet Draft
The IESG has announced the approval of the IETF Internet Draft "The
Extensible Markup Language (XML) Configuration Access Protocol (XCAP)"
as a Proposed Standard. The document was produced by members of the
IETF SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions
(SIMPLE) Working Group. The specification defines the Extensible
Markup Language (XML) Configuration Access Protocol (XCAP). XCAP
allows a client to read, write and modify application configuration
data, stored in XML format on a server. XCAP maps XML document
sub-trees and element attributes to HTTP URIs, so that these
components can be directly accessed by HTTP. In many communications
applications, such as Voice over IP, instant messaging, and presence,
it is necessary for network servers to access per-user information
in the process of servicing a request. This per-user information
resides within the network, but is managed by the end user themselves.
Its management can be done through a multiplicity of access points,
including the web, a wireless handset, or a PC application. One
example of per-user information is presence authorization policy,
which defines rules about which watchers are allowed to subscribe to
a presentity, and what information they are allowed to access; another
is presence lists, which are lists of users whose presence is desired
by a watcher. XCAP defines a set of conventions for mapping XML
documents and document components into HTTP URIs, rules for how the
modification of one resource affects another, data validation
constraints, and authorization policies associated with access to those
resources. Because of this structure, normal HTTP primitives can be
used to manipulate the data. XCAP is based heavily on ideas borrowed
from the Application Configuration Access Protocol (ACAP), but it is
not an extension of it, nor does it have any dependencies on it. Like
ACAP, XCAP is meant to support the configuration needs for a
multiplicity of applications, rather than just a single one.
See also: SIMPLE specifications
OASIS Content Assembly Mechanism Specification Version 1.1
Martin Roberts and David RR Webber (eds), OASIS
OASIS announced a 60-day public review period for the "Content Assembly
Mechanism Specification Version 1.1", ending 30-January-2007. Produced
by members of the OASIS Content Assembly Mechanism (CAM) TC, this
document provides an open XML based system for using business rules to
define, validate and compose specific business documents from
generalized schema elements and structures. A CAM rule set and document
assembly template defines the specific business context, content
requirement, and transactional function of a document. A CAM template
must be capable of consistently reproducing documents that can
successfully carry out the specific transactional function that they
were designed for. CAM also provides the foundation for creating
industry libraries and dictionaries of schema elements and business
document structures to support business process needs. The core role
of the OASIS CAM specifications is therefore to provide a generic
standalone content assembly mechanism that extends beyond the basic
structural definition features in XML and schema to provide a
comprehensive system with which to define dynamic e-business
interoperability.
See also: the announcement
WS-RT 1.0 Operations, Part One
Kane Scarlett, IBM developerWorks
The WS-ResourceTransfer 1.0 initial draft specification (WS-RT)
defines extensions to WS-Transfer, a general SOAP-based protocol for
accessing XML representations of Web service-based resources. The
family of Web services specifications, the "WS-" group, is designed
to interoperate with other members of the family in order to deliver
a set of tools for the Web services environment. As such, this
specification relies on other WSs for such functions as message
delivery and to express WS metadata. WS-RT is an essential core
component of a unified resource access protocol for Web services.
The WS-RT extensions deal mostly with fragment-based access to
resources to satisfy the common requirements of WS-ResourceFramework
and WS-Management specifications. HP, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft
collaborated to publish WS-ResourceTransfer (WS-RT), an initial draft
that describes an extension to the WS-Transfer specification. WS-
Transfer defines standard messages for controlling resources using
the familiar paradigms of get, put, create, and delete. The extensions
deal primarily with fragment-based access to resources to satisfy
the common requirements of WS-ResourceFramework and WS-Management.
This article provides a closer look at how the WS-ResourceTransfer
1.0 specification extends the Get operation. Followon article
installments for WS-RT 1.0 will examine how the WS-ResourceTransfer
1.0 specification extends the 'put' operation, viz., the create and
delete operations; the fault-handling rules of WS-Addressing;
terminology and notation; security — how this WS works with
WS-Security.
SOA for the Real World
Ash Parikh and Murty Gurajada, JavaWorld
There are many challenges to implementing a successful, enterprise-
grade SOA. The critical mistake most companies make lies in the gap
between organizational goals and the actual investment in the right
components and technologies to achieve those goals. Much effort is
spent on the service layer, but the core component of the architecture,
the SOA registry and repository, is not designed well enough to scale
effectively. Moreover, organizations tend to forget about effective
data management and governance services until it is too late. Most of
the enterprise data flowing within and between organizations is XML.
The full potential of SOA can be realized if the implementation is
built around the infrastructure that is best suited for the management
of such data. A good native XML database coupled with XQuery as the
basis for comprehensive data services provides a rock-solid foundation
for a flexible, scalable, enterprise-grade SOA registry and repository.
All SOA data — the artifacts as well as the messages — are in XML
and have a hierarchical representation, which is not well suited for
the rigidity of an RDBMS (relational database management system).
This problem exacerbates as the SOA implementation grows to include
more endpoints/providers, orchestrations, and subscribers. The lack
of a powerful repository also complicates governance and
administration. For instance, if you want to apply a change to a set
of WSDLs in the registry, it is easier to do that with the powerful
query capabilities of XQuery, which can select the right artifacts
based on the query criteria and update them. Since most of the
artifacts in an SOA are XML, native processing of all of the SOA XML
data is needed. A truly responsive SOA repository must thus be
implemented on a native XML database (XDMS) with XQuery for data
management.
See also: the announcement
XML Data Validation Using IBM DB2 Visual Studio 2005 .Net Add-in
Farzad Farahbod, IBM developerWorks
A repository, such as a relational database, provides the environment
to securely share XML documents and XML schemas with authorized users.
The authorized users have secure access to important XML documents and
XML schemas at any time, from anywhere. By using a repository system
that can contain one or more relational database systems, users can
locate and retrieve the latest version of XML document(s) and XML
schema documents. DB2 9 offers new support for XML, which .Net
application developers can start to use out of the box with minimal
effort. That's because DB2 9 enables programmers to query, insert,
update, and delete XML data in the same fashion as relational data —
using familiar ADO .Net statements and standard query language. DB2 9
introduces new features and mechanisms for managing, storing, and
querying XML data: (1) XML data type enables DB2 to store XML documents
in it's native hierarchical format; (2) XML query language support is
based on industry standards, including new XML extensions to SQL —
also called SQL/XML; (3) Support for validating XML data based on
user-supplied schemas, which allows application developers and database
administrators to enforce data integrity constraints for XML data
stored in DB2. This article shows you detailed examples of how to use
.Net to build applications that uses DB2's XML technology, which
allows XML to be stored, validated, and queried in its hierarchical
format.
See also: XML and Databases
SOA Centers Take Applications Apart to Put Them Back Together
John Ribeiro, InfoWorld
IBM counts many insurance companies as customers, and their needs are
unique. But they also tend to share some of the same business processes,
such as RQI (rate quote issuance), the process for developing a rate
quote for home or automobile policies. Rather than just consulting a
table, insurance companies doing RQI need to hook into information
about where the customer lives, their credit history, driving record,
as well as the history of the car or property that the customer is
trying to insure. Rather than code and re-code slightly different
flavors of the same component for each client, IBM plans to build the
RQI process into a reusable asset that reflects the best practice in
the insurance industry. RQI is just one of a hundred such reusable SOA
(Service Oriented Architecture) components that IBM has built and that
are now being used to build new solutions from the ground up for each
client. The components are part of a larger effort at IBM to leverage
the company's deep application development and IT services expertise
to create a storehouse of reusable assets that can be used with
customers of all stripes. Now IBM is taking the promise of SOA
reusability a step further: setting up SOA Solutions Centers at Pune,
India, and Beijing. Their charter: to identify and create composite
business services that can be reused by other customers in the same
industry. The SOA Centers are among the first of their kind, although
other IT services vendors are moving quickly to duplicate IBM's model.
As IBM moves deeper into the development of reusable assets, however,
some wonder where the line is drawn between reusable application
components and full-blown applications.
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