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<h1>Welcome to Apache Axis2/Java</h1> | |
<h2>27th April 2007 - Apache Axis2/Java Version @axis2_version@ Released!</h2> | |
<p>[ <a | |
href="http://ws.apache.org/axis2/download.cgi"><strong>Download</strong></a> | |
] | [ <a href="@axis2_version_dir@/index.html"><strong>Documents | |
Home</strong></a> ]</p> | |
<p>Apache Axis2 is the core engine for Web services. It is a complete | |
re-design and re-write of the widely used <a | |
href="http://ws.apache.org/axis/">Apache Axis</a> SOAP stack, built on the | |
lessons learnt from Apache Axis.</p> | |
<h3><em>Apache Axis Project in a Nutshell:</em></h3> | |
<p>Apache Axis is an implementation of the SOAP ("Simple Object Access | |
Protocol") <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/SOAP">submission</a> to W3C.</p> | |
<p>Extract from the draft W3C specification:</p> | |
<blockquote> | |
"SOAP is a lightweight protocol for exchanging structured information in a | |
decentralized, distributed environment. It is an XML based protocol that | |
consists of three parts: an envelope that defines a framework for | |
describing what is in a message and how to process it, a set of encoding | |
rules for expressing instances of application-defined datatypes, and a | |
convention for representing remote procedure calls and | |
responses."</blockquote> | |
<p>This project is a follow-on to the <a | |
href="http://ws.apache.org/soap">Apache SOAP project</a>.</p> | |
<p>Please see the <a href="http://ws.apache.org/axis/ref.html">Axis Reference | |
Library</a> for a list of technical resources that should prove useful on | |
this project.</p> | |
<h3><em>Why Apache Axis2:</em></h3> | |
<p>A new architecture for Axis was introduced during the August 2004 Summit | |
in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The new architecture on which Axis2 is based on is | |
more flexible, efficient and configurable in comparison to <a | |
href="http://ws.apache.org/axis/java/architecture-guide.html">Axis1.x | |
architecture</a>. Some well established concepts from Axis 1.x, like handlers | |
etc., have been preserved in the new architecture.</p> | |
<p>Apache Axis2 not only supports SOAP 1.1 and SOAP 1.2, but it also has | |
integrated support for the widely popular <a | |
href="http://www.xfront.com/REST-Web-Services.html">REST style of Web | |
services</a>. The same business logic implementation can offer both a WS-* | |
style interface as well as a REST style interface simultaneously.</p> | |
<p>Apache Axis2 is more efficient, more modular and more XML-oriented than | |
the older version. It is carefully designed to support the easy addition of | |
plug-in "modules" that extend their functionality for features such as | |
security and reliability. The <a | |
href="http://ws.apache.org/axis2/modules/index.html">Modules</a> currently | |
available or under development include:</p> | |
<ul> | |
<li><a | |
href="http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=wsrm" | |
target="_blank">WS-ReliableMessaging</a> - Supported by <a | |
href="http://ws.apache.org/sandesha/sandesha2/">Apache Sandesha2</a></li> | |
<li><a | |
href="http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/specification/ws-tx/#coor" | |
target="_blank">WS-Coordination</a> and <a | |
href="http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/specification/ws-tx/#atom" | |
target="_blank">WS-AtomicTransaction</a> - Supported by <a | |
href="http://ws.apache.org/kandula/">Apache Kandula2</a></li> | |
<li><a | |
href="http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=wss" | |
target="_blank">WS-Security</a> - Supported by <a | |
href="http://ws.apache.org/axis2/modules/rampart/@axis2_version_dir@/security-module.html">Apache | |
Rampart</a></li> | |
<li><a href="http://www.w3.org/Submission/ws-addressing/" | |
target="_blank">WS-Addressing</a> -Module included as part of Axis2 | |
core</li> | |
</ul> | |
<p>Apache Axis2 is built on <a | |
href="http://ws.apache.org/commons/axiom/index.html">Apache AXIOM</a>, a new | |
high performant, pull-based XML object model.</p> | |
<p>Axis2 comes with many new features, enhancements and industry | |
specification implementations. The key features offered are as follows:</p> | |
<ul> | |
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong>Speed</strong> - Axis2 uses its | |
own object model and StAX (Streaming API for XML) parsing to achieve | |
significantly greater speed than earlier versions of Apache Axis.</p> | |
</li> | |
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong>Low memory foot print</strong>- | |
Axis2 was designed ground-up keeping low memory foot print in mind.</p> | |
</li> | |
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong>AXIOM</strong> - Axis2 comes with | |
its own light-weight object model, AXIOM, for message processing which is | |
extensible, highly performant and is developer convenient.</p> | |
</li> | |
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong><a name="Hot_Deployment"></a>Hot | |
Deployment</strong> - Axis2 is equipped with the capability of deploying | |
Web services and handlers while the system is up and running. In other | |
words, new services can be added to the system without having to shut | |
down the server. Simply drop the required Web service archive into the | |
services directory in the repository, and the deployment model will | |
automatically deploy the service and make it available for use.</p> | |
</li> | |
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong>Asynchronous Web | |
services</strong> - Axis2 now supports asynchronous Web services and | |
asynchronous Web services invocation using non-blocking clients and | |
transports.</p> | |
</li> | |
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong>MEP Support</strong> - Axis2 now | |
comes handy with the flexibility to support Message Exchange Patterns | |
(MEPs) with in-built support for basic MEPs defined in WSDL 2.0.</p> | |
</li> | |
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong>Flexibility</strong> - The Axis2 | |
architecture gives the developer complete freedom to insert extensions | |
into the engine for custom header processing, system management, and | |
<em>anything else you can imagine</em>.</p> | |
</li> | |
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong>Stability</strong> - Axis2 | |
defines a set of published interfaces which change relatively slowly | |
compared to the rest of Axis.</p> | |
</li> | |
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong>Component-oriented | |
Deployment</strong> - You can easily define reusable networks of Handlers | |
to implement common patterns of processing for your applications, or to | |
distribute to partners.</p> | |
</li> | |
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong>Transport Framework</strong> - We | |
have a clean and simple abstraction for integrating and using Transports | |
(i.e., senders and listeners for SOAP over various protocols such as | |
SMTP, FTP, message-oriented middleware, etc), and the core of the engine | |
is completely transport-independent.</p> | |
</li> | |
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong>WSDL support</strong> - Axis2 | |
supports the Web Service Description Language, version <a | |
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/wsdl">1.1</a> and <a | |
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/wsdl20/">2.0</a>, which allows you to easily | |
build stubs to access remote services, and also to automatically export | |
machine-readable descriptions of your deployed services from Axis2.</p> | |
</li> | |
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong>Add-ons</strong> - Several Web | |
services specifications have been incorporated including <a | |
href="http://ws.apache.org/wss4j/" target="_blank">WSS4J</a> for security | |
(Apache Rampart), <a href="http://ws.apache.org/sandesha/" | |
target="_blank">Sandesha</a> for reliable messaging, <a | |
href="http://ws.apache.org/kandula/" target="_blank">Kandula</a> which is | |
an encapsulation of WS-Coordination, WS-AtomicTransaction and | |
WS-BusinessActivity.</p> | |
</li> | |
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong>Composition and | |
Extensibility</strong> - Modules and phases improve support for | |
composability and extensibility. Modules support composability and can | |
also support new WS-* specifications in a simple and clean manner. They | |
are however not <a href="#Hot_Deployment">hot deployable</a> as they | |
change the overall behavior of the system.</p> | |
</li> | |
</ul> | |
<p>We hope you enjoy using Axis2. Please note that this is an open-source | |
effort. If you feel the code could use new features or fixes, or the | |
documentation can be improved, please get involved and lend us a hand! The | |
Axis developer community welcomes your participation.</p> | |
<p>Let us know what you think! Send your feedback on Axis2 to "<a | |
href="mailto:axis-user@ws.apache.org">axis-user@ws.apache.org</a>". Make sure | |
to prefix the subject of the mail with [Axis2].</p> | |
<h2>Features of Axis2 Latest Version</h2> | |
<p>Apache Axis2 Version @axis2_version@ comes with performance improvements | |
and bug fixes over the 1.1.1 release. Check out the complete list of features | |
below.</p> | |
<h3>Programming Model</h3> | |
<ul> | |
<li>Improved, XML-centric client API including full WSDL and policy | |
support</li> | |
<li>Support for any message exchange pattern</li> | |
<li>Synchronous and asynchronous calls</li> | |
<li>Archived service deployment model</li> | |
<li>Archived module deployment model supporting controlled extensibility | |
with versioning support</li> | |
<li><a href="#Hot_Deployment">Hot deployment</a></li> | |
<li>WS-Policy driven code generation extensions</li> | |
<li>Flexible service life cycle model</li> | |
<li>Support for querying a service's WSDL (using ?wsdl), schema (using | |
?xsd) and policies (using ?policy)</li> | |
<li>WSDL 2.0</li> | |
<li>POJO annotation (<a href="http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=181">JSR | |
181</a>)</li> | |
<li>JAX-WS intregration</li> | |
<li>Binary serialization (Fast Infoset)</li> | |
<li>JSON support</li> | |
<li>EJB Provider support</li> | |
</ul> | |
<h3>Supported Specifications</h3> | |
<ul> | |
<li>SOAP 1.1 and 1.2</li> | |
<li>Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM), XML Optimized | |
Packaging (XOP) and SOAP with Attachments</li> | |
<li>WSDL 1.1, including both SOAP and HTTP bindings</li> | |
<li>WS-Addressing (submission and final)</li> | |
<li>WS-Policy</li> | |
<li>SAAJ 1.1</li> | |
</ul> | |
<h3>Transports</h3> | |
<ul> | |
<li>HTTP</li> | |
<li>SMTP</li> | |
<li>JMS</li> | |
<li>TCP</li> | |
</ul> | |
<h3>Supported Data Bindings</h3> | |
<ul> | |
<li>Axis Data Binding (ADB)</li> | |
<li>XMLBeans</li> | |
<li>JibX</li> | |
<li>JaxMe</li> | |
</ul> | |
<h2><a name="Tools_included_in this_Release">Tools Included in This | |
Release</a></h2> | |
<p>[<a href="http://ws.apache.org/axis2/tools/index.html" | |
target="_blank">Download Tool Plug-ins</a>]</p> | |
<ol type="1"> | |
<li>Axis2 Web Application (Web App)</li> | |
<li>WSDL2WS- <a | |
href="tools/@axis2_version_dir@/eclipse/wsdl2java-plugin.html" | |
target="_blank">eclipse plug-in</a><a>/</a> <a | |
href="tools/@axis2_version_dir@/CodegenToolReference.html" | |
target="_blank">Command line version</a><a>/</a><a | |
href="tools/@axis2_version_dir@/idea/Idea_plug-in_userguide.html#WSDL2Java_Code_Generation" | |
target="_blank">IntelliJ IDEA plug-in</a><a>/</a><a | |
href="tools/@axis2_version_dir@/maven-plugins/maven-wsdl2code-plugin.html" | |
target="_blank">Maven2 WSDL2Code Plug-in</a></li> | |
<li>Service Archive Wizard- <a | |
href="tools/@axis2_version_dir@/eclipse/servicearchiver-plugin.html" | |
target="_blank">eclipse plug-in</a>/ <a | |
href="tools/@axis2_version_dir@/idea/Idea_plug-in_userguide.html#Create_Service_Archive" | |
target="_blank">IntelliJ IDEA plug-in</a>/ <a | |
href="tools/@axis2_version_dir@/maven-plugins/maven-aar-plugin.html" | |
target="_blank">Maven2 AAR Plug-in</a></li> | |
<li>Java2WSDL- <a | |
href="tools/@axis2_version_dir@/maven-plugins/maven-java2wsdl-plugin.html" | |
target="_blank">Maven2 Java2WSDL Plug-in</a></li> | |
</ol> | |
<h2>Extension Modules</h2> | |
<ul> | |
<li>Apache Rampart: Supporting WS-Security (and soon WS-Policy)</li> | |
<li>Apache Sandesha2: Supporting WS-Reliable Messaging</li> | |
</ul> | |
(Apache Axis2 comes built in with a module that supports WS-Addressing.) | |
<h2>Known Issues and Limitations</h2> | |
<ul> | |
<li>ADB does not support unwrapping of response messages(coming in 1.2)</li> | |
<li>JSR 181/183 Annotation support (coming in 1.2)</li> | |
<li>JaxMe and JAXBRI data binding support is experimental</li> | |
<li>Simple Axis Server does not support POX/REST</li> | |
<li>RPC Message Receiver does not validate a request against the schema | |
(AXIS2-1943)</li> | |
<li>Axis2 Idea plugin shows random behavior when XMLBeans is used</li> | |
</ul> | |
<h2>Archived News</h2> | |
<p>For information on previous Axis2 releases running up to the current | |
release see the <a href="archived_news.html" target="_blank">'Axis2 Archived | |
News'</a> page.</p> | |
For other news items from Apache Software Foundation see: | |
<ul> | |
<li><a | |
href="http://www.apachenews.org/archives/cat_apache_webservices_index.html">Web | |
services related news on the Apache News Blog Online</a></li> | |
<li><a href="http://www.apachenews.org/">The Apache News Blog | |
Online</a></li> | |
</ul> | |
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