Cripple Objects In The Web Services World

When you read different forums there is a lot of talk about serialisation of plattform dependent types.
Pepole are asking how to get a .NET Type (e.g. DataSet) from Java or vice versa (e.g. Resultset).
If you are developing end to end .NET or J2EE applications you don’t have to worry about that. The runtime does most of the work for you and if you ask for a DataSet you will get one.
But when it comes to cross plattform what will you get when you ask for a DataSet from an J2EE application ?
To answer this Question we have ask another one.

What makes up an object ? Answer: It’s state and behaviour.

When you request a DataSet you will only get the state and type information. But what makes a DataSet so powerful ? It’s the behaviour.
If you don’t have the concept of a DataSet on the J2EE platform you can get only the half of the object representation. It’s a cripple object.
The same it true when you request a Java Resultset from .NET.

In order to develop interoperable Web Services you have to rely on XML Schema types only. First define the schema and wsdl contract and then generate the service from it.
It’s the same as you might know from CORBA or COM Interface Definition Language (IDL).

Tool support is available:

.NET -> wsdl.exe /server …
JWSDP -> wscompile -gen:server …

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