3.2 3.2 3.2 Service Service Service Service Oriented Oriented Oriented Oriented MCWE MCWE MCWE MCWE
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Chapter 3 Framework of Mobile Collaborative Working Environments
3.2.1 3.2.1
3.2.13.2.1 IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction ofofofof WebWebWebWeb ServiceServiceServiceService TechnologyTechnologyTechnologyTechnology
Web Service is an emerging distributed middleware technology, regarded as a competing middleware technology to CORBA, which uses simple XML-based protocols and standards to allow applications or systems to exchange data across the Web [71]. Web service platform needs a set of agreements to realize the establishment of the distributed application program. The Web service platform must offer a standard for different kinds of systems communicating in different platforms, programming language and package model. In the traditional distributed system, the platform based on interface (annotation of translation: IDL (interface description language) in COM and COBAR). Similarly, Web service platform must offer one standard to let customer can receive enough message via the web.
The core components of Web Services standards are WSDL, SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), and UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration), which are all based on XML (eXtensible Markup Language). The component architecture for Web services is illustrated in Figure 3.3.
Computer Computer
Chapter 3 Framework of Mobile Collaborative Working Environments
Figure Figure Figure
Figure 3.33.33.33.3 ComponentComponentComponentComponent architecturearchitecturearchitecturearchitecture forforforfor WebWebWebWeb ServiceServiceServiceService
XML is the basic form showing the data in Web service platform. XML has solved the problem that the data are expressed, but it has not defined a set of standard datum types, have not said how to expand the type of this set of data. The specifications (i.e.,
interface) of services can be described using WSDL, a metadata language that defines how service providers and service requesters communicate with Web Service applications. Because it is based on XML, WSDL can be read by computer as well as the people, which will be an important advantage.
SOAP is a communication protocol for exchanging information in a decentralised, distributed environment. It defines a mechanism to pass commands and parameters between clients and services. SOAP is independent of the platform, object model, and programming language being used. In addition to SOAP, there are other transport protocols such as JAX-RPC and XML-RPC.
A UDDI server provides a “meeting place” for Web Services; an information database for Web Services, which stores descriptions about service owners and the services they offer in a common XML format. Just as businesses list their products and services in a telephone directory, UDDI is used for providers to register and publish their services, so that requesters can then discover and invoke them.
3.2.2 3.2.2
3.2.23.2.2 ComparisonComparisonComparisonComparison ofofofof WebWebWebWeb ServiceServiceServiceService andandandand OtherOtherOtherOther DistributedDistributedDistributedDistributed TechnologiesTechnologiesTechnologiesTechnologies
Some distribution tools have certain functions similar to Web service such as:
DCOM, RMI, and CORBA, but,
Chapter 3 Framework of Mobile Collaborative Working Environments
� DCOM is platform dependent (Windows) and negating the goal of standards-based interoperability.
� RMI is Java technology-based, and thus does not easily play well with other languages.
� CORBA is limited however by its complicated, ad-hoc way of utilizing the power and flexibility of the Internet. It is difficult to develop and deploy CORBA for small projects, which may not justify its performance benefits because it requires considerable code development.
Compared with the above technologies, Web Service has the following characteristics which have been utilized in the mobile system：
� Web Service allows the reuse of services and components within an infrastructure:
Relying on enterprises existing technologies, Web Service can turn enterprise existing digital resources, packages, application systems into services. After that, their interfaces are described in WSDL files, which help the client to understand what the services are and how to access them. In this way, all resources become services that can be accessed via the Internet.
� Web Service provides interoperability between various software applications running on disparate platforms: Web Service has dynamic characters. Any authorised user may join the service without affecting existing users. The structure of the service-oriented system is flexible enough to meet the constantly changing demands to update and append required additional functions. It can also integrate existing software (programs and packages) and avoids being required to perform the tedious task of re-writing the software into a format in which they were not originally developed.
� Web service uses open standards and protocols. Protocols and data formats are text-based where possible, making it easy for developers to comprehend them. By
Chapter 3 Framework of Mobile Collaborative Working Environments
utilising HTTP, Web Service can work through many common firewall security measures without requiring changes to the firewall filtering rules.
The Web Service has given a good interaction platform between human and computer programs, while providing a better environment for interaction among the programs themselves. This is the reason why Web Service has been chosen to be the middleware technology of MCWE.
3.2.3 3.2.3
3.2.33.2.3 View,View,View,View, ModifyModifyModifyModify andandandand ShareShareShareShare CADCADCADCAD filesfilesfilesfiles viaviaviavia MobileMobileMobileMobile DeviceDeviceDeviceDevice
The Web-based design architecture developed in this research is mainly based on the concept of Web-server-centralised system approach. There exists at least one Web server, i.e., the collaborating server, which acts as a central unit and manages the interaction between users on the one side and application providers (e.g. servers) on the other. Design services such as computing, and analysis tools are provided by a number of object servers, which form the functional basis for the distributed network design system. Client procedures allow users to access available design applications and thus utilise the tool’s functionality. In this architecture, Web Service plays a key role in connecting an individual site, where the CAD package is located and related services are available to the Internet. The mobile application carries out the tasks of dynamic data processing and links with Mobile CAD package and Web Service. The designer operates the CAD package to produce drawings and makes changes which are instantaneously sent, with the aid of the mobile application and Web Service, to the collaborative designers located in different sites. As shown in Figure 3.3, in order to load a CAD model as a Web service, the provider of the CAD model generates a describing file in WSDL format first and then registers the service with the WSDL file to the service registration server. This structure is used in distributed design application and presented in Chapter 4.
Chapter 3 Framework of Mobile Collaborative Working Environments
3.2.43.2.4
3.2.43.2.4 ParametricParametricParametricParametric DDDDesignesignesignesign
With the development of CAD technology, parametric designs have become more popular in commercial CAD packages such as Pro/E, AutoCAD and SolidWorks. As a user of the mobile collaborative environment, the designer can change, receive and send the geometry model by revising the design parameters, because the data of the parameters and the basic graph of the geometry model provide all the information required for the designers, remote clients or collaborative designer/engineers. In chapter 4, SolidWorks is chosen as the CAD tool to demonstrate how parametric design may be conducted within a mobile collaborative environment. The method developed is generally applicable to other types of CAD packages.