Method and apparatus of automatic method signature adaptation for dynamic web service invocation

• US 20030217044A1
• Filed: 05/15/2002
• Published: 11/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Zhang, Liang-Jie, Chao, Tian-Jy, Chang, Hung-Yang
• Application Number:
  US10/145,118
• Publication Number:
  US 20030217044A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues

Abstract

A method (and apparatus) for adapting an input parameter,for dynamically invoke the target Web services, and for adapting output results, the method including: receiving an invocation request including an input parameter in a first format; retrieving MetaWSDL (Meta Web Service Description Language), wherein said MetaWSDL includes a universal XML (eXtended Markup Language) representation which includes semantic information of a Web service method signature; invoking a MetaWSDL processor to adapt the input parameter to a second format using the retrieved MetaWSDL; dynamically invoking the target Web services using the adapted parameter in the second format; and adapting the output result in a first format to a second format using the MetaWSDL.

Claims

1. A method for adapting an input parameter, the method comprising:

receiving an invocation request including an input parameter in a first format;

retrieving MetaWSDL (Meta Web Service Development Language), wherein said MetaWSDL comprises a universal XML (eXtended Markup Language) representation which includes semantic information of a Web service method signature; and

invoking a MetaWSDL processor to adapt the input parameter to a second format using the retrieved MetaWSDL.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving MetaWSDL comprises retrieving a WSIL (Web Service Inspection Language) document from a Web server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving MetaWSDL comprises invoking a MetaClient library API (Application Programming Interface).

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising parsing the input parameter based on MetaObjects in the MetaWSDL after retrieving the MetaWSDL.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the MetaWSDL processor adapts the input parameter by referencing a MetaObject library.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the MetaObject library includes at least one of a simple MetaObject and a complex MetaObject.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the MetaObject library includes user-defined MetaObjects.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the MetaObject library defines MetaObjects in a configuration file.

9. A method for adapting a Web service output parameter, comprising:

receiving an output parameter in a first format;

retrieving MetaWSDL, wherein said MetaWSDL comprises a universal XML representation which includes semantic information of a Web service method signature providing the output parameter; and

invoking a MetaWSDL processor to adapt the output parameter to a second format using the retrieved MetaWSDL.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said retrieving MetaWSDL comprises invoking an API similar to those in a MetaClient library API.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising parsing the output parameter based on MetaObjects in the MetaWSDL after retrieving the MetaWSDL.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein said retrieving MetaWSDL comprises retrieving a WSIL document from a Web server.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the MetaWSDL processor adapts the output parameter by referencing a MetaObject library.

14. A method for method signature adapting an input parameter, the method comprising:

parsing the input parameter using MetaData;

using MetaData as specified in MetaWSDL; and

using MetaWSDL to adapt the input parameter.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said MetaData comprises semantic information.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein said MetaWSDL comprises a universal XML representation to define MetaData.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising invoking a Web service on a Web server using the adapted input parameter.

18. A method for generating a MetaClient preference file in a MetaClient library for storing information regarding a preferred set of Web services, comprising:

looking up UDDI registries for each preferred Web service; and

storing the location of each preferred Web service and associated method names in a MetaClient library.

19. An apparatus for method signature adaptation, the apparatus comprising:

a MetaObject library including self-describing objects defined in MetaWSDL;

a MetaClient library including a preferred library of Web services; and

a MetaWSDL processor adapted to process MetaWSDL, to adapt parameters and to invoke Web services dynamically, wherein said MetaWSDL comprises a universal XML representation which includes semantic information of Web services method signatures.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said self-describing objects comprise at least one of a basic MetaObject and a complex/pluggable MetaObject.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said MetaObject represents one of a measurement unit, a monetary unit, a zipcode, and a State name.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said MetaObject library includes specifications for input parameter adaptation and specifications for output result adaptation.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said basic MetaObject handles a simple unit conversion.

24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said complex/pluggable MetaObject comprises an extensible MetaObject which is customizable and pluggable.

25. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the MetaObject library comprises a MetaObject library configuration file.

26. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the MetaClient library comprises APIs to invoke a UDDI search engine to retrieve a preferred set of Web services.

27. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the MetaClient library stores the location of WSDLs and Web service names.

28. A MetaWSDL for automatic method signature adaptation, comprising semantic information of Web services method signatures.

29. A computer readable medium storing instructions for adapting an input parameter which when executed by at least one processor, causes the processor to perform:

receiving an invocation request including an input parameter in a first format;

retrieving MetaWSDL, wherein said MetaWSDL comprises a universal XML representation which includes semantic information of a Web service method signature; and

invoking a MetaWSDL processor to adapt the input parameter to a second format using the retrieved MetaWSDL.

30. A computer readable medium storing instructions for adapting an output parameter which when executed by at least one processor, causes the processor to perform:

receiving an output parameter in a first format;

retrieving MetaWSDL, wherein said MetaWSDL comprises a universal XML representation which includes semantic information of a Web service method signature providing the output parameter; and

invoking a MetaWSDL processor to adapt the output parameter to a second format using the retrieved MetaWSDL.

31. A computer readable medium storing instructions for adapting an input parameter which when executed by at least one processor, causes the processor to perform:

parsing the input parameter using MetaData

using MetaData as specified in MetaWSDL; and

using MetaWSDL to adapt the input parameter.

32. A computer readable medium storing instructions for generating a MetaClient preference file in a MetaClient library for storing information regarding a preferred set of Web services which when executed by one or more processors, causes the processors to perform:

looking up UDDI registries for each preferred Web service; and

storing the location of each preferred Web service and associated method names in a MetaClient library.

33. A computer readable medium storing MetaData for describing semantic information for Web service complementary to an SDL.

34. A MetaWSDL Processor for adapting an input parameter, the MetaWSDL processor comprising:

an input adaptation device which adapts and input parameter in a first format to a second format; and

a dynamic invocation device for invoking a Web service by providing said input parameter in said second format.

35. A MetaWSDL processor for adapting an output parameter, the MetaWSDL processor comprising:

a dynamic invocation device for receiving an output parameter in a first parameter from a Web service; and

an output adaptation device for adapting said output parameter from said first parameter to a second parameter.