Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Getting Started:
Installation and Configuration

Web Services Adapter

A Web service is an application that can be accessed over the Internet (or an intranet) using industry-standard protocols. Web services provide an industry-standard way for all types of client applications to call functions on all types of application servers, over any network configuration that supports SOAP, and where the application program interface (API) can be described using Web Services Descriptor Language (WSDL).

In OpenEdge, you can build and deploy Web services using the AppServer, Web service tools, and the Web Services Adapter (WSA). You can define Web services using the Open Client Toolkit much as you define traditional Open Client proxies. However, instead of generating Open Client proxies for immediate access by Open Client applications, you generate a client interface definition, and deploy this definition as a Web service that you then manage within the context of the OpenEdge Web Services Adapter.

The WSA is a Java servlet running on a Web server or stand-alone JSE. This Java servlet serves as the SOAP-to-business interface gateway and Web service management engine for your Web service. Thus, the WSA provides user access to the Web service WSDL file and supports Web service administration; it also manages the exchange of Web service SOAP requests and generates SOAP responses between Web service clients and AppServers at run time.

You can install the WSA as a separate stand-alone product on its own machine. It is available as a separately installable OpenEdge component, as a sub-component of the OpenEdge Application Server Enterprise product and of the OpenEdge Development Server product, and as a download from the Progress Software Corporation web site at http://www.progress.com/esd. The Web Services Deployment tool and the Web Services Admin Enabler are part of the OpenEdge product.

For information on WSA configuration, see the WSA sections of OpenEdge Development: Web Services and OpenEdge Application Server: Administration .