SOAP v REST Explained

Nice way to explain "SOAP vs REST"

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/service-oriented/?p=3568&tag=trunk;content

A collection of PHP demos

Wanna try out some samples in PHP web services?
Try out this collection of demos.
You can try, download, rate samples and view the source code to get an idea what you can do with web services in PHP language. The demos here are developed with WSO2 Web Services Framework for PHP (WSF/PHP).

WSO2 WSF/C with Apache HTTP server

Following section will show you how to use WSO2 Web services framework for C (WSF/C) with the Apache HTTP server in linux environment.
First download and install apache2 server. Please follow the instructions in INSTALL file.
Then download WSF/C and configure with the following option

%./configure --with-apache2=/path/to/apache2 --prefix=/your/wsfc_home/directory
%make
%make install

Once you do make install, this will create a libmod_axis2.so inside WSFC_HOME/lib. Copy this file to apache2/modules directory. Now please open the httpd.conf file inside conf directory. Add following entries to the file. These will be your configurations to the axis2/c web services engine.

LoadModule axis2_module modules/libmod_axis2.so
    Axis2RepoPath /your/path/to/wsf/c/home
    Axis2LogFile /tmp/apache_axis2.log
    Axis2LogLevel debug
    Axis2MaxLogFileSize 32
    <Location /axis2>
        SetHandler axis2_module
    </Location>

Done? Perfect. Let's start the server

%./httpd -k start

If the default port (i.e. 80) is in use try another port such as 8080. You can change the port in the conf/httpd.conf file

Listen 8080

Open s browser and enter the following address as the url

http://localhost:8080/axis2/services

If all goes well, this should show the deployed services. Usually these are samples comes with WSF/C.

WSO2 Web Services Framework for C language

As the B2B communication becomes loosely coupled and automated in a distributed environment, web services technology is blooming as the perfect solution for numerous business applications. With the ability of multiple legacy applications to be integrated to form a single system and allowing various clients, dispersed in contrasting platforms in different coordinates of the world to communicate are the major challenges faced by many software architects and developers.
As a solution for this WSO2 has introduced a series of web services middle-ware that can be used to implement your business application. Amongst them WSO2 Web services framework for C (WSF/C) can become appealing to the C, C++ community.
If you are a PHP or Ruby developer you have the option of using respective extensions of WSF/C in these languages. Please check WSF/PHP and WSF/Ruby for more details.

TCP Monitor tool with WSO2 WSF/C

The TCPMonitor tool can be used to listen to TCP(Transmission Control Protocol) endpoints in your system. When you download and build WSO2 WSF/C, the tool is available at WSFC_HOME/bin/tools for your convenience. Go to the directory and start the tool as follows.

%tcpmon.exe
Note that I've used .exe for the Win32 systems. UNIX guys please use
%./tcpmon

OK. Now by default, the tool listens to the port 9090 and redirects messages to port 8080 at the localhost(i.e. to the same machine). Note: You may change these default settings using few command line arguments.

Usage : tcpmon.exe [-lp LISTEN_PORT] [-tp TARGET_PORT] [-th TARGET_HOST] [-f LOG_FILE]
e.g. tcpmon.exe -lp 9090 -tp 8080 -th localhost -f my_tcpmon.log

Since we are redirecting our messages to port 8080, this time we have to start the server listening to that port.
%axis2_http_server.exe -p8080

Alright now we are ready to sniff the wire content. Now what we have to do is start a client. The client samples are available at WSFC_HOME/bin/samples. I'll use the following. But try other samples as well.
%echo_blocking_addr.exe

OK now you see that your service invoke is successful and feel that the world is newer better. So please do open the tcpmon_traffic.log in WSFC_HOME/bin/tools using a text editor such as notepad, gedit or vi to see the wire content. Now you should see something like this.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
SENDING DATA..
/* sending time = 10:58:13*/
---------------------
POST /axis2/services/echo HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: Axis2/C
Content-Length: 512
Content-Type: application/soap+xml;charset=UTF-8
Host: localhost:9090

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope">
<soapenv:Header xmlns:wsa="http://www.w3.org/2005/08/addressing">
<wsa:To>http://localhost:9090/axis2/services/echo</wsa:To>
<wsa:Action>http://ws.apache.org/axis2/c/samples/echoString</wsa:Action>
<wsa:MessageID>02973ea8-bb4f-1dc1-2693-000000000000</wsa:MessageID>
</soapenv:Header>
<soapenv:Body>
<ns1:echoString xmlns:ns1="http://ws.apache.org/axis2/services/echo">
<text>Hello World!</text>
</ns1:echoString>
</soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
RETRIEVING DATA..
/* retrieving time = 10:58:13*/
/* time throughput = 0 sec(s)*/
---------------------
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/soap+xml;charset=UTF-8
Content-Length: 672

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope">
<soapenv:Header xmlns:wsa="http://www.w3.org/2005/08/addressing">
<wsa:Action>http://ws.apache.org/axis2/c/samples/echoString</wsa:Action>
<wsa:From>
<wsa:Address>http://localhost:9090/axis2/services/echo</wsa:Address>
</wsa:From>
<wsa:MessageID>02983114-bb4f-1dc1-3856-000000000000</wsa:MessageID>
<wsa:RelatesTo wsa:RelationshipType="http://www.w3.org/2005/08/addressing/reply">02973ea8-bb4f-1dc1-2693-000000000000</wsa:RelatesTo>
</soapenv:Header>
<soapenv:Body>
<ns1:echoString xmlns:ns1="http://ws.apache.org/axis2/c/samples">
<text>Hello World!</text>
</ns1:echoString>
</soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

The SOAP envelope in the first portion of the file shows the request and the last SOAP envelope shows the response from the server.