Most major Java software vendors are developing Java client toolkits to support Web service client development. In general, these toolkits include features that help automate the generation of client interfaces to Web services and offer other development aids, such as SOAP viewers and other debugging aids. Among the more common Java client toolkits are the following:

  • Axis from Apache
  • JAX-RPC

The client development samples in the remainder of this section are provided using Axis as the client-side Web services toolkit.

If you are developing a secure Web service that relies on the Transport Layer Security (TLS) managed by the Web server, OpenEdge provides a utility (procertm) to manage the digital certificates for a Java client. This same utility is also used to manage digital certificates for Java Open Clients. For more information on this utility, see OpenEdge Development: Java Open Clients.