Simple web services in Java applications

Question

I am new to web service and WSDL. I have a MySQL database stored in a server and I need to create a very simple web service that allows third party Java applications to input an integer (say 'membership number') and receive a string (say 'member name'). This should be done with WSDL.

Can someone please tell me what files do I need? A WSDL file, a schema file? Do I need a Java class stored in the server responsible to communicate with the database? I am pretty lost, I would be thankful if you could give me some suggestion

Answer 1

JAX-WS is the simplest way to convert an existing method into a web service endpoint, with a few annotations, and the simple web server in the standard Java 6 JRE. It can autogenerate the WSDL too.

This tutorial covers the essentials for getting started: http://java.dzone.com/articles/jax-ws-hello-world

I have found this to be a very robust technology.

Answer 2

Using the SOAP Webservices can get pretty messy. Unless you are forced, I would recommend you use REST for webservices, it is much less complex than SOAP. You can find a good REST tutorial here.

If on the other hand you must use SOAP, you could strat by taking a look here.

Answer 3

As the simplest form of webservice is you can continue with JAX-WS, upon deployment of appilication it will publish a WSDL file and you can use this WSDL to communicate it from client