Professional SQL Server™ 2005 Integration Services

8.4. Web Services

This has got to be the one of the coolest tools in the SSIS bag of tricks. You barely need to know what a Web service is to take advantage of this little gem.

In very simple terms, a Web service is to the Web as a function is to a code module. It accepts a message in XML, including arguments, and returns the answer in XML. The wonderful thing about XML technology is that it allows computer systems that are completely foreign to each other to communicate in this common language. When using Web services, this transfer of XML data occurs across the enterprise or across the Internet using the HTTP protocol. Many Web services—for example, stock-tickers and movie listings—are freely available for anyone's use. Some Web services, of course, are private or require a fee. Probably the most useful application is to allow orders or other data to be exchanged easily by trading partners. In this example, you'll learn how to use a Web service to get a listing of the hyperlinks on a Web page.

8.4.1. The Hyperlink Extractor Service

Start with a new project and create an HTTP Connection by right-clicking in the Connection Managers pane and choosing New Connection. Choose HTTP and click Add to bring up the HTTP Connection Manager Editor. Type http://www.atomic-x.com/xmlservices/HyperlinkExtractor.asmx?wsdl as the Server URL (see Figure 8-26). In this case, you'll use a publicly available Web service so you won't have to worry about any credentials or certificates. If you must ...