Programming Web Services With Xml-Rpc

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.

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.

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

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Programming Web Services With Xml-Rpc

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials