Thankyou for the replies. I appreciate the time you have taken.
One of the reasons for wanting to follow the XML-RPC path is to allow a standardised implementation that is compatible with PDI and the Web Services step. The data scenario is one of basically doing a 'lookup' such that descriptive data is returned to 'external' (ie/ not the source) data systems so that these systems are basing their information on the same 'single source of truth' (which will actually be a dimension of a data warehouse).
The processes we have in place (okay, almost have in place - still a few kinks to iron out but very close to finished) provide us with a very high quality of data and trustworthiness. This is extremely uncommon in our industry, and has taken us a very long time to achieve (read ten of thousands of man hours). Sharing this both internally and externally with our partners will be of great benefit to us and allow much closer co-ordination between companies and departments. Being able to provide this in a way directly compatible with a data integration tool like PDI seems the perfect way to go.
I would love to follow the text only route, but we have to be able to support the argument that we are adhering to some form of industry accepted standard(s). Saying that we have a specification, and being able to provide a WSDL file seems like a good idea from the sound of it - the clients really need to do nothing except use it (and maybe keep it updated - which PDI can do for them too!).
Does anyone know of a simple
java class (EE compatable) or perhaps a framework that can 'showcase' approaching this problem? I would like to be able to better understand it myself and also to be able to provide an 'example' scenario to others involved. I am a little new to dealing with web services so please forgive my ignorance in this area.
Maria, thankyou for the feedback. My book I have ordered for our library here has just arrived and I can pick it up today. Having a personal copy would be brilliant! Please keep me in the running :-)
Cheers and Thanks
The Frog