The Oracle ATG Web Commerce platform permits external Java clients to access Nucleus methods by exposing them as Oracle ATG Web Commerce Web Services. Many such Oracle ATG Web Commerce Web Services are included with the Oracle ATG Web Commerce platform, as are tools for creating custom Web Services. For a list of Oracle ATG Web Commerce Web Services, see ATG Web Services. Java clients can execute those Web Services through calls that are translated into XML wrapped in SOAP, transmitted to the Oracle ATG Web Commerce platform, and routed to the Nucleus method itself. Other Oracle ATG Web Commerce resources, such as JMS messages and RepositoryItems, can also be exposed as Oracle ATG Web Commerce Web Services.

The Oracle ATG Web Commerce implementation of Web Services follows the standard Web Service guidelines outlined by JAX-RPC 1.0 and SOAP 1.1 specifications. You may use Apache Axis 1.4 to create your Web Service calls, and this chapter includes code examples that assume you are using Axis.

This chapter aims to inform you how to call Oracle ATG Web Commerce Web Services from an Axis client. Rather than provide a broad discussion on how to use Axis, this chapter describes Oracle ATG Web Commerce-specific features and processes that you need to be familiar with. Please see the Axis documentation for comprehensive instructions.

To access an Oracle ATG Web Commerce Web Service, you need to be familiar with the following topics: