1 Introducing Oracle WebLogic Web Services

This chapter provides an introduction to Oracle WebLogic (Java EE) web services.

This chapter includes the following sections:

For definitions of unfamiliar terms found in this and other books, see the Glossary.

Overview of WebLogic Web Services

WebLogic Server supports the web service types defined in Table 1-1. For an overview of web services and their benefits, see "What Are Web Services?" in Understanding Web Services.

Table 1-1 Types of WebLogic Web Services

Web Service Type Description

Java API for XML-Based Web Services (JAX-WS) 2.2

The JAX-WS implementation in Oracle WebLogic Server is extended from the JAX-WS Reference Implementation (RI) developed by the Glassfish Community (see https://jax-ws.java.net/).

For more information about JAX-WS, see:

Java API for RESTful Web Services (JAX-RS)

WebLogic Server supports the Jersey 2.x JAX-RS 2.0 Reference Implementation (RI).

For more information about JAX-RS, see:

Java API for XML-Based RPC (JAX-RPC) 1.1

JAX-RPC is considered legacy and the specification is no longer evolving. JAX-RPC defines APIs and conventions for supporting XML web services in the Java Platform as well support for the WS-I Basic Profile to improve interoperability between JAX-RPC implementations.

For more information about JAX-WS, see:

How Do I Choose Between SOAP and REST?

The following table provides guidelines to consider when choosing between SOAP and REST.

In WebLogic Server, SOAP web services are implemented using JAX-WS and RESTful web services are implemented using JAX-RS. See also Chapter 2, "Features and Standards Supported by WebLogic Web Services" for a comparison of the standards that are supported for JAX-WS and JAX-RS.

Table 1-2 How to Choose Between SOAP and RESTful Web Services

Use . . . In the following scenarios . . .

SOAP

Implement SOAP web services using JAX-WS in enterprise application integration scenarios that:

  • Have advanced quality of service (QoS) requirements.

  • Need to call methods remotely in Java components, such as Plain Old Java Objects (POJOs) or Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs).

JAX-WS interoperates with other standards-based SOAP web services from Oracle or other SOAP web service vendors.

JAX-WS supports the full set of WS-* protocols that provide standards for security, reliability, and so on, and better interoperates with other clients and servers that conform to the WS-* protocols.

For more information about SOAP web service development, see Developing JAX-WS Web Services for Oracle WebLogic Server.

REST

Implement RESTful web services using JAX-RS to integrate services over the web when the constraints of the RESTful style are desirable, such as separate client-server architecture, uniform interface, and so on.

For more information about RESTful web services development, see Developing and Securing RESTful Web Services for Oracle WebLogic Server.