Publishing Web services and business entities with the Web Services Explorer

Through UDDI and WSIL, other applications can discover WSDL documents and bind with them to execute transactions or perform other business processes.

UDDI enables the discovery of Web services by providing a distributed registry of businesses and their service descriptions, implemented in a common XML format. In order for a service requestor to discover a service, a service provider must first publish a business entity and at least one business service, and service interface in a UDDI registry. The Web Services Explorer is a Web application that supports the publication, discovery, and maintenance of business entities, business services, and service interfaces.

WSIL enables the discovery of Web services by defining a distributed service discovery method that supplies references to service descriptions at the service provider's point-of-offering, by specifying how to inspect a Web site for available Web services. The WSIL specification defines the locations on a Web site where you can look for Web service descriptions. Since WSIL focuses on distributed service discovery, the WSIL specification complements UDDI by facilitating the discovery of services that are available on Web sites that may not be listed yet in a UDDI registry. The Web Services Explorer allows you to generate and explore WSIL documents.

The favorites page of the Web Services Explorer allows you to store the location of UDDI registries, business entities, Web services, service interfaces, as well as WSIL and WSDL documents.

Use the Web Services Explorer to do any of the following tasks:

Prerequisites:

Before you can use the Web Services Explorer to perform any of these functions, you must register with a public registry or have access to a private registry. There are many different registries with which you can register. If you are publishing to a private registry on WebSphere Application Server, the server must be started.
Ensure that you are using a supported Web browser. The following Web browsers and versions are supported:
- Internet Explorer: 6.0 and up
- Mozilla: 1.2.1 and up
Launch the Web Services Explorer.

Known limitations of the Web Services Explorer:

The taxonomy categories in the Web Services Explorer are not translated since they must match those in the standards adhered to by UDDI (ISO, UNSPSC 7.3, NAICS).
The Web Services Explorer will launch without the browser toolbar which shows, amongst other things, the URL to the Web application. This URL should only be used by users with accessibility needs. The URL to the Web Services Explorer Web application can be obtained through the following steps:
1. From the Window menu, select Preferences.
2. In the Preferences dialog, select Web Browser in the left pane.
3. On the right, select Use external Web Browser.
4. In the Location: text field, browse or type in the full path of the Internet Explorer executable. (for example, C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe).
5. Click Apply followed by OK.
Note that this preference will now apply to any browser windows that are launched by the user or by the tools themselves (such as the Universal Test Client). The Web Services Explorer will now launch in an external browser and its URL should be in the Address field. This can then be pasted or opened using am accessibility assisting browser.
When performing an advanced find or publish in the UDDI page of the Web Services Explorer, the items in the drop down list for picking a language in conjunction with a name or description is sorted according to the operating system's locale settings. On Windows^®, this order may be managed through the Control Panel. To do this:
1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Launch the Regional Options control panel applet.
3. In the General tab of the resulting dialog, there may be a "Sorting order" drop-down list. If so, pick a sorting order and then click Apply followed by OK.
4. In the Web Services Explorer, the new sorting order comes into effect once the page reloads. This can be accomplished by pressing the back arrow followed by the forward arrow in the main toolbar.
Note: The instructions above apply to Windows 2000. On Windows XP, the tab mentioned in step 3 is called "Regional Options". Beside the language drop-down, there is a Customize button. When this is clicked, a new dialog appears. A sorting tab will allow users to pick the sorting method if applicable.

Launching the Web Services Explorer
The Web services tools allows you to launch the Web Services Explorer in several ways.
Registering with a UDDI registry
In order to publish your business entity and Web service to a UDDI registry, you must first register with the registry that you want to use.
Logging in to a UDDI registry
If you have published your Web service to a UDDI registry you can log into the registry and manage the service through the Web Services Explorer.
Adding a Registry to the Web Services Explorer
Although the Web Services Explorer comes populated with several registries, you can also add additional registries to your list of favorites.
Publishing a business entity
A business entity contains information about the business that has published a service. Before you can publish a business service, you must publish a business entity.
Publishing a Web service
The Web service, also known as the business service, describes a Web service's endpoint and where its WSDL file resides. The WSDL file lists the operations that service provides.
Updating a business entity, Web service, or service interface
After you have published a business entity, Web service, or service interface, you can update it through the Web Services Explorer.
Removing a business entity, Web service, or service interface from a registry
After you have published a business entity, Web service, or service interface, you can remove or unpublish it through the Web Services Explorer.
Managing referenced services
A service projection enables a business entity to reference a service that was published by another business entity. By using the businessService structure as a projection to an already published businessService, businesses can share or reuse services. Service projections are managed centrally as part of the referencing businessEntity.
Managing publisher assertions
A publisher assertion is a way in UDDI to associate businessEntity structures. The publisher assertion defines a group of businessEntity structures. Many businesses are not effectively represented by a single businessEntity. A publisher assertion allows for associations to be formed between several businessEntity structures. For example, a large company may have several subsidiaries that have different descriptions but are still closely coupled and want to make their relationships visible in UDDI registries.
Adding a registry, business entity, business service, service interface, WSIL, or WSDL service to Favorites
You can add a registry, business entity, business service, service interface, WSIL, or WSDL service to the Web Service Explorer Favorites if you plan to access them in the future.

Related Concepts

Tools for Web services development

Web services development

Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)

Launching the Web Services Explorer

Exploring WSDL using the WSDL Explorer

Developing Web services

Related Reference

Data structure types (UDDI registry)