Chapter {17} - Future Standards

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of a few future standards that affect Web services and the Java platform. Web service architecture emphasizes loose coupling between constituent services, and a Web service application that is considered as a macro Web service and also considered as an application formed by wiring together micro Web services. The terms composition and choreography in the context of Web services refer to wiring services together or wiring together fine-grained operations of a single Web service to create an executable business process. The Web Services Description Language (WSDL)-based web service description does not provide the ability to define asynchronous, long-running interactions between Web services. Web service composition is a means to define business processes that involve Web services. Web Service Choreography Interface ( WSCI) and Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS) are two competing specifications for Web service composition. SOAP is designed to be a basic messaging infrastructure protocol for Web services and to be extended so that more complex message exchange patterns can be layered on top of it. One such pattern is message routing, where a SOAP message is directed along a defined path before reaching its destination. WS-Routing takes advantage of the SOAP header processing model and proposes a simple specification that enables SOAP message routing.