High-level and low-level SOAP APIs

High-level APIs use specially-designed classes to implement your Web service's function with minimal coding, while low-level APIs use standard HTTP classes that require you to code everything by hand.

SOAP high-level APIs

• The high-level APIs include the following:
  • The com.WebServices class is used to implement a Web service on the server. Instances of this class are used to create a Web service that can be stateless or stateful. Object methods for registering HTTP headers for request and response handling, and generating the WSDL are provided by this class.
  • The com.WebOperation class provides for the interface to create and manage the operations of a Web service. Instances of this class are used to create different style options (Document or RPC) and the encoding mechanism (literal or encoded) for the service. Object methods for this class are used to set the headers, action, and encoding. A stateful Web service can also be initiated by this class.
  • The com.WebServiceEngine class provides an interface to manage the Web Services engine. Instances of this class are used to start the service and handle HTTP requests. This class also handles request faults, timeout, and cookie options for both client and server.

  If you have generated code via the fglwsdl tool (client and server side), these high-level APIs are automatically used.

SOAP low level APIs

Web services can be implemented with theHTTPRequest, HTTPResponse and HTTPServiceRequest classes, but you have to write all the HTTP code of your services by hand.