System and method for locating web services

• US 20060020692A1
• Filed: 07/21/2004
• Published: 01/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Polson, Michael J., Jaffray, Andrew J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,509,422 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

The mechanisms described herein are directed at methods for locating web services available for client applications. The methods allow web services to re-locate without impacting the code of the client applications that access the web services. The client application sends a message that includes an identifier to a referral service. The referral service re-directs the message to a locater service based on the identifier. The locater service determines a set of locations associated with web services based on attributes associated with the client application. The attributes may include a client type, a client version, or a locale. The set of locations are transmitted to the client application for use in accessing the web services. Upon failing to access one of the web services identified within the set, the client application re-sends the message to obtain an updated set of locations.

Claims

1. At least one computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method, comprising:

sending a message that includes an identifier; and

receiving a list of locations based on the identifier, each location corresponding to a web service.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein receiving the list of locations is further based on at least one attribute associated with a client application responsible for sending the message.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the at least one attribute is included within the message.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the one attribute includes at least one of a client type, a client version, or a locale.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the identifier is hard-coded within code for sending the message.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the identifier is obtained via a registry entry associated with a client application responsible for sending the message.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising persisting the list of locations.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the list of locations comprises an XML document that identifies each location.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein each location is identified by a name and a URL pair.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the XML document is transmitted via SOAP and results in a plurality of objects available to a client application that sent the message, each object being associated with one of the locations.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the plurality of objects are persisted.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising receiving a re-direction response and re-directing the message to a locater service that determines the list of locations based on at least one attribute associated with a client application responsible for sending the message.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising receiving an expiration date, the expiration date indicating a period of time for which the list of locations is valid.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising receiving an expiration date for each location, each expiration date indicating a period of time for which the associated location is valid.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising, upon receiving a failure when accessing one of the locations, re-sending the message to receive an updated list of locations.

16. At least one computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method, comprising:

receiving a message from a client application, the message including an identifier;

identifying a locater service based on the identifier; and

sending a re-direct response to the client application that re-directs the client application to the locater service that provides a list of locations to the client application, each location being associated with a web service.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the message comprises an HTTP GET.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the message comprises an HTTPS GET.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the message comprises a FWLINK associated with the identifier.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the re-direct response includes the identifier.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the re-direct response includes at least one attribute comprising a client type, a client version, or a locale.

22. At least one computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method, comprising:

receiving a message originated from a client application, the message including at least one attribute;

determining a set of locations available to the client application based on at least one of the at least one attributes; and

sending the set of locations to the client application.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the at least one attributes include an identifier for the client application.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the at least one attributes include a locale that indicates a location for the client application.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the at least one attributes include a version number that indicates a version for the client application.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein sending the set of locations comprises sending an XML document.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the XML document comprises a SOAP document.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the message originating from the client application comprises a re-directed message sent from a referral service based on an identifier associated with the client application.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the message originating from the client application comprises a FWLINK with the identifier.

30. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory into which a plurality of instructions are loaded, the plurality of instructions performing a method comprising;

sending a message that includes an identifier;

receiving a list of locations based on the identifier and at least one attribute associated with a client application responsible for sending the message, each location being associated with a web service.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the at least one attribute includes at least one of a client type, a client version, or a locale.

32. The system of claim 30, further comprising persisting the list of locations.

33. The system of claim 30, wherein the list of locations comprises an XML document having a name and a location identifier for each web service.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the location identifier comprises a URL.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein the XML document is transmitted via SOAP resulting in a plurality of objects available to the client application, each object being associated with one location out of the list of locations.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the plurality of objects are persisted.

37. The system claim 30, further comprising receiving a re-direction response and re-directing the message to a locater service that determines the list of locations based on the at least one attribute.

38. The system of claim 30, further comprising receiving an expiration date, the expiration date indicating a period of time for which the list of locations is valid.

39. The system of claim 30, further comprising receiving an expiration date associated with each location, each expiration date indicating a period of time for which the associated location is valid.

40. The system of claim 30, further comprising, upon receiving a failure when accessing one of the web service, re-sending the message to receive an updated list of locations.