Programming Web Services With Xml-Rpc

by St Laurent, Simon

• ISBN13: 9780596001193
• ISBN10: 0596001193
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-06-01
• Publisher: Oreilly & Associates Inc

Summary

Many regard the ability to access a web application directly from a remote script or a program running on any platform as the "next big thing." XML-RPC (Extensible Markup Language- Remote Procedure Call) does just this, allowing developers to open objects or "web services" to the Internet and easily recombine web services to create dynamic, content-intensive web sites. Programming Web Applications with XML-RPC puts developers firmly in control of the XML-RPC protocol, for a simple way to create and use powerful web services today. They'll be able to expose the functionality of a web site in a variety of programming environments and use such web services to build more complex applications. This is the book for leading-edge developers who want to experiment now with an exciting new way of doing business on the Web.

Author Biography

Simon St. Laurent is a web developer, network administrator, computer book author, and XML troublemaker living in Ithaca, NY. His books include XML: A Primer, XML Elements of Style, Building XML Applications, Cookies, and Sharing Bandwidth. He is a contributing editor to XMLhack.com and an occasional contributor to XML.com.

Joe Johnston is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts in Boston with a B.A. in computer science, he is a teacher, web designer, and author of articles for Perl Journal, Perl.com, and IBM's DeveloperWorks. Joe helps maintain the ASP XML-RPC library and wrote the Perl module Frontier::Responder.pm.

Edd is Managing Editor of XML.com. He also writes free software, and packages Bluetooth-related software for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution. Edd is the creator of XMLhack and WriteTheWeb, and has a weblog called Behind the Times.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Preface	xiii
Introduction	1	(9)
What XML-RPC Does	2	(3)
Where XML-RPC Excels	5	(1)
A Quick Tour of the Minefields	6	(4)
The XML-RPC Protocol	10	(23)
Choreography	10	(3)
Data Types	13	(7)
Request Format	20	(6)
Response Format	26	(5)
The Nil Value	31	(1)
A DTD for XML-RPC	31	(2)
Client-Server Communication: XML-RPC in Java	33	(31)
Why XML-RPC for Java?	34	(2)
The XML-RPC Java Library	36	(5)
Building XML-RPC Clients	41	(2)
Building XML-RPC Servers	43	(4)
Creating XML-RPC Handlers	47	(4)
Three Practical Examples	51	(12)
Moving Toward Cross-Platform Peer-to-Peer	63	(1)
XML-RPC and Perl	64	(25)
Perl's Implementation of XML-RPC	65	(1)
Data Types	66	(7)
XML-RPC Clients	73	(7)
XML-RPC Servers	80	(6)
Integrating XML-RPC into a Web Server	86	(3)
Integrating Web Applications: XML-RPC in PHP	89	(28)
Getting the XML-RPC Library for PHP	90	(1)
Understanding the Client Classes	90	(1)
Mapping Data Between PHP and XML-RPC	91	(5)
Invoking Methods	96	(4)
Building XML-RPC Servers in PHP	100	(5)
Connecting Web Applications	105	(11)
What PHP and XML-RPC Can Do	116	(1)
XML-RPC and Python	117	(23)
Python Implementations of XML-RPC	117	(1)
Installing Python Ware XML-RPC	118	(1)
Data Types	118	(4)
XML-RPC Clients	122	(3)
XML-RPC Servers	125	(11)
Integrating XML-RPC into a Web Server	136	(3)
Using Zope as an XML-RPC Server	139	(1)
Bridging XML-RPC and COM: XML-RPC in ASP	140	(27)
Using XML-RPC with ASP	140	(2)
Making Active Server Pages More Active	142	(2)
Data Types and the API	144	(2)
Building an Address Book Web Service with ASP	146	(8)
Talking to MS Access from Linux	154	(2)
An XML-RPC Client in ASP	156	(5)
Creating a Window to Linux	161	(3)
Connections and Caveats	164	(3)
XML-RPC and the Web Services Landscape	167	(12)
The Web Services Vision	167	(1)
Public XML-RPC Services	168	(1)
Design Considerations for Any XML-RPC Application	169	(2)
Beyond XML-RPC	171	(4)
Protocol Design Choices	175	(2)
XML-RPC and Web Services	177	(2)
The XML You Need for XML-RPC	179	(14)
The HTTP You Need for XML-RPC	193	(14)
Index	207