Introduction

The goal of this course is to provide students with the knowledge and skills that are required to develop XML Web services-based solutions to solve common problems in the distributed application domain. The course focuses on using Microsoft^® Visual Studio^® .NET, Microsoft ASP.NET, and Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) to enable students to build, deploy, locate, and consume Extensible Markup Language (XML) Web services.

Audience

This course is intended for experienced software developers who have previously built component-based applications.

At Course Completion

After completing the course, students will be able to:

§                     Explain how XML Web services emerged as a solution to the problems with traditional approaches to designing distributed applications.

§                     Describe the architecture of an XML Web services-based solution.

§                     Describe the underlying technologies of XML Web services and explain how to use the Microsoft .NET Framework to implement XML Web services by using these technologies.

§                     Implement an XML Web service consumer by using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.

§                     Implement a simple XML Web service by using Visual Studio .NET.

§                     Publish and deploy an XML Web service.

§                     Secure an XML Web service.

§                     Implement caching in an XML Web service.

§                     Evaluate the trade-offs and issues that are involved in designing a real-world XML Web service.

§                     Implement nonstandard XML Web services such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) screen scraping and aggregating XML Web services.

Prerequisites

Before attending this course, students must have:

§                     An understanding of how to read and write XML documents.

§                     Experimented with simple C# applications.

§                     Developed distributed applications by using Microsoft Visual Basic^®, Java, or C++.

Microsoft Certified Professional Exams

There is no Microsoft Certified Professional exam associated with this course.

Student Materials

The student kit includes a comprehensive workbook and other necessary materials for this class.

Course Outline

Module 1: The Need for XML Web Services

The following topics are covered in this module:

After completing this module, you will be able to explain how XML Web services emerged as a solution to the problems with traditional approaches to designing distributed applications. This includes:

§                     Describing the evolution of distributed applications.

§                     Identifying the problems with traditional distributed application architectures and technologies.

§                     Describing XML Web services and briefly explaining how they address the design problems in traditional distributed applications.

§                     Listing the alternate options for distributed application development.

§                     Identifying the kinds of scenarios where XML Web services are an appropriate solution.

Module 2: XML Web Service Architectures

The following topics are covered in this module:

After completing this module, you will be able to describe the architecture of an XML Web services-based solution. This includes:

§                     Identifying how XML Web service architectures are a type of service-oriented architecture.

§                     Describing the elements of an XML Web service architecture and explaining their roles.

§                     Describing the XML Web service programming model.

Module 3: The Underlying Technologies of XML Web Services

The following topics are covered in this module:

After completing this module, you will be able to describe the underlying technologies of XML Web services and explain how to use the .NET Framework to implement XML Web services by using these technologies. This includes:

§                     Describing the structures of a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request and response.

§                     Issuing HTTP POST and GET requests and processing the responses by using the .NET Framework.

§                     Describing data types by using the XML Schema Definition language (XSD).

§                     Explaining how to control the way a .NET Framework object is serialized to XML.

§                     Describing the structures of a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) request and response.

§                     Issuing a SOAP request and processing the response by using the .NET Framework.

Module 4: Consuming XML Web Services

The following topics are covered in this module:

After completing this module, you will be able to implement an XML Web service consumer by using Visual Studio .NET. This includes:

§                     Explaining the structure of a Web Service Description Language (WSDL) document.

§                     Explaining the XML Web services discovery process.

§                     Locating service contracts by using Disco.exe.

§                     Generating XML Web service proxies by using Wsdl.exe.

§                     Implementing an XML Web service consumer by using Visual Studio .NET.

§                     Invoking an XML Web service synchronously and asynchronously by using an XML Web service proxy.

Module 5: Implementing a Simple XML Web Service

The following topics are covered in this module:

After completing this module, you will be able to implement a simple XML Web service by using Visual Studio .NET. This includes:

§                     Creating an XML Web service project.

§                     Implementing XML Web service methods, exposing them, and controlling their behavior.

§                     Managing state in an ASP.NET-based XML Web service.

§                     Debugging XML Web services.

Module 6: Publishing and Deploying XML Web Services

The following topics are covered in this module:

After completing this module, you will be able to publish and deploy an XML Web service. This includes:

§                     Explaining the role of UDDI in XML Web services.

§                     Publishing an XML Web service in a UDDI registry by using the UDDI SDK.

§                     Searching a UDDI registry to locate XML Web services by using the UDDI SDK.

§                     Explaining the various options for publishing an XML Web service on an intranet.

§                     Explaining some of the options for modifying the default configuration of an XML Web service.

Module 7: Securing XML Web Services

The following topics are covered in this module:

After completing this module, you will be able to secure an XML Web service. This includes:

§                     Identifying the differences between authentication and authorization.

§                     Explaining how to use the security mechanisms that Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) and Windows provide for authentication.

§                     Using SOAP headers for authentication in an XML Web service.

§                     Using role-based security and code access security for authorization in an XML Web service.

§                     Encrypting the communication between an XML Web service consumer and an XML Web service.

Module 8: Designing XML Web Services

The following topics are covered in this module:

After completing this module, you will be able to evaluate the trade-offs and issues that are involved in designing a real-world XML Web service. This includes:

§                     Identifying the restrictions that are imposed on data types by the various XML Web services protocols.

§                     Explaining how the use of Application and Session state can affect the performance and scaling of XML Web services.

§                     Explaining how to use output and data caching to improve XML Web service performance.

§                     Implementing caching in an XML Web service.

§                     Explaining how asynchronous XML Web service methods can improve performance.

§                     Explaining the need for instrumenting XML Web services.

§                     Identifying the components of an XML Web service that can be versioned.

§                     Explaining how to implement a virtual XML Web service by using screen scraping.

§                     Implementing an XML Web service that uses multiple XML Web services.

§                     Identifying the trade-offs in the techniques that are used for exposing aggregated XML Web services.

Module 9: Global XML Web Services Architecture

The following topics are covered in this module:

After completing this module, you will be able to:

§                     Describe limitations inherent to the specifications with which today's XML Web services are built.

§                     Describe the design principles and specifications of Global XML Web services Architecture (GXA).

§                     Describe XML Web service application scenarios made possible by Web Services Routing Protocol (WS-Routing) and Web Services Referral Protocol (WS-Referral).

§                     Explain how to use Web Services Security Language (WS-Security) and Web Services License Language (WS-License) to perform authentication and authorization for XML Web services.

§                     Design XML Web services that anticipate and can leverage the features that GXA will offer when released.