[Info-vax] WSDL and OpenVMS

[Richard Maher]

Hi,

<tykeboy2003 at yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:623e6c7c-f0d4-4cd9-a41b-170607d3eb18 at a12g2000pro.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> Does anyone know how to interface to a J2EE application from an
> OpenVMS client?

HP/VMS have spent an awful lot of time and license-payer dollars developing
"Industry Standard" Axis2/VMS (After having already spent even more time and
money on SOAP/Toolkit, and before that BridgeWorks) and yet here we are
again with another VMS customer that doesn't look too interested.

Is there anyone at all out there actually using Axis2 or WSIT on VMS? Surely
another ROI world-record for HP/VMS management :-(

Is there *only* Axis2/JAVA; why not industry-standard Axis2/*C*? Trying to
get half-pregnant?

Hold on http://ws.apache.org/axis2/c/ says: -
"Apache Axis2/C supports SOAP 1.1 and SOAP 1.2, as well as REST style of
Webservices. A single service could be exposed both as a SOAP style as well
as a REST style service simultaneously. It also has built in MTOM support,
that can be used to exchange binary data."
[and]
"enables using C in Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) implementations, and
would be very useful when integrating *legacy systems* into SOA."

Maybe HP/VMS *has* delivered the holy-grail after all?

But rest assured that (just like the current batch of US Investment Bankers
that are still redecorating their offices, buying new private jets, and
paying themselves massive bonuses, after being bailed-out by the tax-payer
for billions) there is no end to how much the IMM team is prepared to
squander on the gSOAP lifeboat. Yes, recession my arse! I guess it's all
free-time and bubbly if you're in with the in-crowd. Don't worry, once they
"formally" abandon WSIT/Axis2 by announcing HP/VMS support for the gSOAP
Client, it's off to the gSOAP Server where they really get to kill-the-pig
and party-large. Then they'll eventually row back to the oil-slick that was
the good-ship VMS, just in case any of those tardy women and children are
still bobbing around.

> I work with an OpenVMS system programming in DEC-PASCAL and need to
> get data from a J2EE system. I have the wsdl definition of the
> interface and I know how to send data to a remote socket and read some
> data back, but it is not at all clear to me (nor the developers of the
> J2EE system!) what the message formats are. Is it possible to work out
> what the message structures are from the wsdl?

There was a Java (at least JAX-WS) switch that would turn on debugging and
replayed all the contents (headers, XML tags and data) that went down the
line, to stdout. (I can't remember it at the moment and it would only be of
use to you if you had a working Java client to sample with.) But that would
be a lot quicker than reading RFCs and working out all relevant and possible
combos. At the end of the day, it's going to be headers (some of which your
interested in), XML and namespaces. You could also try generating/importing
with the WSDL even if you only use what it outputs for reference. At least
the XSDs should help. Also, the web-service server-side guys should be able
to give you examples of raw data tested going up and down the line?

If you do go the "your own Socket" route, you may want to consider
optionally supporting SSL and also what you might use for a XML parser,
gzipping and so on. I'm not trying to discourage you, in fact, the exact
opposite; this is functionality VMS has needed for years! If you search COV
you'll find I've regularly asked for a XHR$ RTL spec'd along the lines of: -

http://www.w3.org/TR/XMLHttpRequest/
or
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms535874(VS.85).aspx

with an entry-point for each method and item-lists for the XML data and ASTs
for the readystatechange Then you could call all of your SOAP or RESTful
services with a single library and help *integrate* VMS with the outside
world! Now, would functionality like that be in VMS's best interests - what
do you think? But maybe there's not enough in it for those driving VMS? Not
enough room to "parachute me there"? Not enough to wet their mouths?

If you do decide to go ahead, here are some links from a quick google search
for SOAP-headers, XHR, and Javascript: -

https://ebay.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ebay.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?&p_cluster=0000%7C10093%7C20067&p_faqid=457&p_created=1146770350&p_topview=1

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.xml/msg/ec318224cf702a67

http://blogs.msdn.com/kaevans/archive/2007/04/27/a-nostalgic-look-at-using-xmlhttprequest-with-soap.aspx

http://www.mikesparr.com/2006/08/21/more-ajax-and-soap-web-service-interaction/

Cheers Richard Maher

PS. For the more adventurous: -
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/ajax/JavaScriptSOAPClient.aspx

PPS. Here's an earlier question to the ITRC: -
http://forums13.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1242796

<tykeboy2003 at yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:623e6c7c-f0d4-4cd9-a41b-170607d3eb18 at a12g2000pro.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> Does anyone know how to interface to a J2EE application from an
> OpenVMS client?
>
> I work with an OpenVMS system programming in DEC-PASCAL and need to
> get data from a J2EE system. I have the wsdl definition of the
> interface and I know how to send data to a remote socket and read some
> data back, but it is not at all clear to me (nor the developers of the
> J2EE system!) what the message formats are. Is it possible to work out
> what the message structures are from the wsdl?