These are the basic steps involved in implementing a Web service:

1.Define the interprocess messages (IPMs) that describe the "request" and corresponding "reply" that your server will use.

2.Create the Pathway or Guardian server that will implement the service method for the IPMs you defined.

3.Create the Service Definition File (.sdf) that describes the Web service and the mapping to your server.

4.Create the client application.

1. If you are using an existing server, this step may already be completed. If you use HP Data Definition Language (DDL) to define your IPMs, you will be able to use the SOAP/AM Service Definition Wizard to automatically generate the required Service Definition File for you.

2. If you are using an existing server, this step is already completed; you do not need to make any special changes for SOAP/AM™ Server. Otherwise, you must create the server that will perform the service method. The server must be a standard $RECEIVE-based server. You can create the server in any language using any tools you care to.

3. The Service Definition File (.sdf) tells SOAP/AM Server how to map SOAP requests it receives to server request IPMs and replies to SOAP responses. There are three ways to create an .sdf:

1.a. Use the Service Definition Wizard. The Wizard will convert existing DDL DEFinitions to the corresponding .sdf entries. The Wizard creates methods that take one input parameter (the request IPM) and one output parameter (the reply IPM).

b. Create the Service Definition File by hand. You can use any text editor, although you may find it easier to use an XML-aware editor such as XMLSpy.

c. Use the Service Definition Wizard as in 'a' to generate the .sdf initially, then modify it by hand as in 'b', above.

4. You create your client application using the tool of your choice. SOAP/AM Server includes sample applications developed using a variety of tools and programming languages. Refer to the sample that most closely matches your environment for a example of how to call a Web service.