What is web service

[jakson0100]

Web Service represents a bridge between application that are located on different places, created on different platforms and intended for different purposes. Web hosting Service is mostly explained as a software system that is used to support interoperable machine-to-machine communication. What does Web Service do is it receives/sends messages from different languages and then translates them to a universal (standard) form, that Web Service uses, the XML format. This feature represents a great improvement in the IT world, as the communication between different applications that companies use for their necessities, are now bypassed by a software solution that enables all of those application whether they are just created or are ‘veterans’ in the application world.
Hyper Transfer Protocol

Web Services are identified by a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) described and defined using XML (Extensible Markup Language). One of the reasons that make Web services so attractive is the fact that this model is based on technology standards, particularly XML and HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). The main reason for establishing the Web hosting service is because of the necessity for communication over the Internet. To be able to perform that and do some other types of connectivity besides communication, you will need SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). It is simple as that, however the application for this service is greater than you would probably imagine.

For example, one of the applications that use Web Service would be VPS Forex trading software. Like any other software, there are multiple versions of this one, but they all handle same information that circle on the Web and there for must be adapted so they can be readable for all users. This is only one of many examples on how to manage the information that circles in one company and therefore be able to optimize your company’s information flow and with that increase the work efficiency. The institutions responsible for this software are the W3C and OASIS. Their definition of Web Service has been already mentioned on the beginning of the article. So we know what does Web Service do, but what we don’t know is how exactly it is done. SOAP is in charge for the messaging system between the different applications, however the path of transferring those messages is not defined by the Web Service, as it is defined by you (for example HTTP or HTTPS).

So the whole process is put in the following: the information is written in the XML format in form of text, after which it is encapsulated by the SOAP, and after that the right protocol for transferring it is selected with other necessary protocols. When this technology had its first beginning it had a lot of bugs and oversights, but like any other new technology that were the first steps in the big bad world, and you need to gain some experience to be able to develop that kind of software to a reliable one. When it comes to data transfer over the Web Service it is not always suitable for that view of communication. If you are dealing with unencrypted data than there shouldn’t be any problems dealing with even large amounts of data that need to be transferred from one place to another if the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is used.
Hyper Transfer Protocol Secure

But if you want to send a secured data package that this is another story to tell. To be able to protect your data from stealing you need to fulfill different security demands which Web Service requires of you and they are authentication, Privacy and Integrity. The technology that enables such security and integrates in the Web Service is the SSL (Secure Socket Layer). Combining the HTTP and SSL gives the result of HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) which does its function of encryption and protection very well, however the negative result of merging these two technologies is that it is much slower than the HTTP and therefore is not suitable for larger files that you want to transfer. Even though this software has been recognized by the two leading technology development companies IBM and Microsoft, there are still companies who work against this standardization. But this technology still remains and still progresses in the IT world, but for its realization multiple protocols and technologies are required so the final package of Web Service would provide such level of benefits and accommodations for any type of user (big or small) that its usage remains on the scene. XML, SOAP and HTML were already mentioned in the previous text and partially explained, however a more exhausting explanation is probably more suiting for everyone to be able to understand the whole process to its core.


Extensible Markup Language (XML) is the basis on which Web services are built. XML provides the description, storage, transmission format for exchanging data through Web Services and also to create Web Services technologies to exchange data. Web Service determines what type of data is transmitted and after that it decodes it and distributes to different applications. SOAP and HTTP enable you to log on to external systems and execute remote function calls. What this actually means is that SOAP allows you to use this service from any other type of OS, architecture or application. SOAP doesn’t depend on some regulations and schematic that should be predetermined for it to work, and therefore it is an independent protocol which found great usage in Web Service because of its great flexibility. Using the XML and HTTP technology SOAP allows you to create a ‘bridge’ between any applications no matter how different they are, of course by using the data got from the XML data file. Now this technology wasn’t mentioned until now;


WSDL (Web Services Description Language) - It stands for Web Services Description Language, XML-based standard for describing the service as in COM, where he brings up the Web service methods. This data is a part of the XML format, and the behavior of WSDL is very similar to the one of the SOAP, however unlike the SOAP that serves for communication, WSDL describes what type of service is being offered in the XML file.


The final protocol used for forming Web Service, (just one of the main protocols, besides many others) is the UDDI (Universal Description Discovery and Integration). The name of this protocol speaks a lot for itself and doesn’t require that much of explaining. Basically what this technology does is publication, discovery and connection to other services. The constant development of this technology has led free distribution of the protocols that are used to organize the Web Service making it possible for people to experiment on them and in that way probably contribute to the whole program of making a software that is totally independent from any other programming language and OS-s too. This will probably result in creation of a complete individual program compatible with every application and software in the world, giving a one big push in the back of the IT world even if some of the companies are against such things. But to be realistic that is the future that probably awaits us when it comes to software developing as more and more people are becoming more educated in this area, the limitations and boundaries that were once set are crumbling down on a regular basis.