Web services are services that you use over the Internet. If you have an existing application that provides a service that you want to make available to others (either within your own organization or beyond it), you can use Web services technologies to provide a standard Web interface for your service. When used in this manner, Web services can be defined as middleware. You can connect applications together no matter how an application is implemented or where it is located.
Middleware is not new, but what is new is Web services technology and its power to connect by using open standards. Web services operate at a level of abstraction that is similar to the Internet; they can work with any operating system, hardware platform or programming language that can be Web-enabled.
WebSphere Application Server uses Web services standards developed for the Java language under the Java Community Process (JCP).
Java API for XML-based remote procedure call (JAX-RPC (JSR-101))
The JAX-RPC standard covers the programming model and bindings for using Web Services Description Language (WSDL) for Web services in the Java language.
Web services for J2EE (JSR-109)
The Web services for J2EE standard covers the use of JAX-RPC in a J2EE environment, as well as the deployment of Web services implementations in a J2EE server
For more information on JAX-RPC, JSR-109, tutorials, and other Web services and J2EE information, see Web services resources.
You can also use the WebSphere Development Studio for iSeries Version 5.1 development tool to develop Web services for WebSphere Application Server - Express V5.1.
Develop a J2EE Web service based on an existing application
See this topic for information about converting your existing application into a Web service.Develop a J2EE Web service based on an existing WSDL file
See this topic for information about developing a new Web services application.Develop a Web services client
See this topic for information about developing a client for a Web service.Use HTTP to transport Web services requests
You can configure your Web service to use HTTP as the transport for requests. See this topic for more information.Web services development artifacts
This topic describes the configuration files and interfaces that are part of a Web services application.Map between Java, WSDL, and XML
This topic contains reference information about how WebSphere Application Server maps between Java and XML technologies such as XML schema, WSDL, and SOAP.Develop and manage UDDI4J
This topic describes how to use the UDDI4J to generate and parse messages sent to and received from a UDDI server.Web Services Invocation Framework (WSIF)
WSIF is a WSDL-oriented Java API that allows you to invoke Web services dynamically, regardless of what format the service is implemented in, or what mechanism is used to access it. This topic describes how to enable your Web services to use WSIF.