Sun Microsystems Inc. on Monday added SOAP and WSDL support to its Forte for Java, Enterprise Edition development product.
The newest module to Forte for Java comes three months after the last enhancement, which added Web services support. Adding SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and WSDL (Web Services Description Language) extends that support for Web services.
“This will help enable companies to use industry standards to use Web services to connect to others outside of the enterprise,” said Peter Young, vice president for Forte tools for Sun, in Santa Clara, Calif.
Up to this point, most companies have been using Web services internally, primarily taking legacy applications such as Microsoft Corp.s Excel spreadsheet and wrapping it in Web service standards such as SOAP.
SOAP is a way for applications created using different technologies to communicate with one another. WSDL is an XML format describing network services, giving developers a standard format for system requests.
The newest module to the Forte for Java tool supports SOAP 1.1 and WSDL 1.1 specs. Developers can use wizards to create SOAP-RPC interfaces for Enterprise Java Beans technology and other enterprise components. Services created using these can be easily integrated with services developed using other technologies.
The new features include the use of Apache SOAP Version 2.2 runtime—a SOAP messaging engine—automatic generation of WSDL and automatic generation of test clients, such as JavaServer Pages software used to test the implementation of the services.
The module is available through Fortes AutoUpdate feature at forte.sun.com/eap.
Future work on Forte will include expanding the application servers it supports, including Oracle Corp.s 9i Application Server.