Overview: Online garden retailer Web services scenarios

 

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This set of scenarios is inspired by an online retailer called Plants by WebSphere, which uses Web services support in WAS to improve communications with its suppliers. The more advanced scenarios describe Web services support available only in particular editions of WAS. Consult your product documentation to confirm what is supported by your edition.

You might recognize Plants by WebSphere as a sample application available in the WebSphere Samples Gallery. These scenarios are loosely related. They describe how the fictional online retailer could use a variety of Web services technologies, some of which are beyond those currently demonstrated by the sample.

Web services are middleware. Using Web services you can connect applications together, no matter how each application is implemented or where it is located. For example, Web services can connect retailers to wholesale suppliers. Middleware is not new. What is new in Web services is that this connectivity is based upon open standards and Web technologies. Web services operate at a level of abstraction that is similar to the Internet, and they can work with any operating system, hardware platform or programming language that can be Web-enabled.

The Plants by WebSphere storefront sells plants and gardening supplies. As customers order merchandise, the site checks the merchandise availability in its inventory database. The scenarios show how the inventory system can grow in stages, using various Web services technologies to improve its capabilities.

At present, these scenarios provide descriptions rather than step by step instructions. To gain experience with Web services coding, see the WebSphere Samples Gallery. It provides detailed instructions for building, configuring, and running the Plants by WebSphere sample application and others.

 

Before Web services

Suppose that the Plants by WebSphere storefront does not use Web services. The garden retailer has established an impressive Internet storefront enabling customers to shop and order merchandise. To determine whether a customer order can be filled, Web applications rely on enterprise beans to query the Plants by WebSphere inventory database. If the item is in stock, the site confirms the order to the customer.

If a customer orders an item that is out of stock, the site notifies the customer that the item is out of stock, and encourages the customer to place the item on backorder. Later, long after the customer has left the Plants by WebSphere site, the site administrator or inventory manager might call or fax the supplier to obtain more inventory.

 

Introducing Web services

Web services could give Plants by WebSphere an automated way to have out of stock items shipped to its warehouse or directly to customers. If suppliers can be contacted quickly enough, Plants by WebSphere does not have to inform its customers that the item was out of stock. Plants by WebSphere could begin to reduce its own inventory if doing so is a desirable business move.

Web services is built on the following core technologies:

The WebSphere product line provides a wealth of additional specifications and standards to help you get the most out of your Web services. For a complete list of specifications and standards used in Web services, see the topic "Specifications and API documentation."


Sub-topics


Web services scenario: Static inquiry on supplier
Web services scenario: Dynamic inquiry on supplier
Web services scenario: Cross supplier inquiry

 

Related Reference

Specifications and API documentation

 

Related information

Samples page on IBM site