Java Web Services

SOAPBuilders Interoperability

If you are depressed and skeptical by now, read on. A lot of great work is being developed that is producing positive results.

The SOAPBuilders group was created to promote interoperability as the SOAP specification matures. The SOAPBuilders discussion group provides a forum for SOAP implementers to discuss issues related to interoperability and the various specifications. It has existed since January 2001. The group has a community of over 750 members and is highly active.

Through SOAPBuilders, two labs for interoperability testing against SOAP 1.1 have been developed. The test labs provide test suites that can be used by SOAP implementations to test interoperability. The SOAPBuilders test suite was initially based on tests created to improve interoperability between Apache SOAP and SOAP::Lite. The tests are a collection of SOAP-RPC echo invocations. WSDL documents and browser-based clients for using the service are provided for all test suites. A directory of endpoints for each implementation is maintained on the lab site.

XMethods (http://www.xmethods.net/ilab/) maintained Round 1, conducted in June 2001. The SOAPBuilders interoperability activity is now in Round 2, maintained by Bob Cunnings of White Mesa (http://www.whitemesa.com/interop.htm). For each round, XMethods and White Mesa provide lists of implementations and WSDL documents that have been tested and document the test results. Based on this information, you can determine the state of ...