Web Services 2.0
This topic discusses Web Services 2.0. For information on Web Services 1.0, see
Web Services 1.0.
Overview
Web Services refers to a communication system for applications to talk and exchange data, such as over the World Wide Web. By using Web Services, an application can publish its function or message and receive functions and messages from other applications
Typical components of a web service are:
- Extensible Markup Language (XML), constituting the data to be exchanged.
- World Wide Web’s Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), constituting the network over which data is to be exchanged.
- Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), constituting a simple XML-based communication protocol let applications exchange information over HTTP. It is independent of platform, technology, and programming language. SOAP is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standard. This subject is covered in the topic An Overview of SOAP APIs and Web Services 2.0
- Web Services Description Language (WSDL), constituting an XML document that describes a web service. It can also be defined as a standard to describe an interface for exchanging information using the SOAP protocol. This subject is covered in the topic WSDL Overview with Web Services 2.0.
This interface describes:
- The location of the SOAP service
- The nature of messages exchanged, such as
- Structure
- Elements
- Characteristics like null allowed, minimum occurrences, and so on
Administration
Oracle CPQ uses Web Services versions 1.0 and 2.0. Different features are available depending on which version of Web Services you are using.
- Existing customers using Oracle CPQ version 2014 R2 or earlier have access to Web Services version 1.0.
- Web Services 2.0 was introduced with Oracle CPQ version 2014 R2.
To discover which version of Web Services you are using:
- Click Admin to go to the Admin Home Page.
-
Click Web Services under Integration Platform.
The Web Services version number is shown under Web Service Version, on the upper left-hand corner of the page.
,
If you have a new installation of Oracle CPQ, or have upgraded to 2014 R2, version 2.0 will be listed.
Even if your installation has been using Web Services 1.0, you can use the features of
Web Services 2.0 concurrently.
Features in this version of Web Services include:
| Clustering |
No clustering support |
Supports clustering |
| Sessions |
Session-based (Stateful) |
Stateless |
| Authentication |
Use Oracle CPQ customer security SOAP headers |
Use standard-based authentication |
| End points |
No unique end points |
Each service and its WSDL have unique end points. WSDL can be accessed at runtime via its URL. |
Clustering
Oracle CPQ Web Services v2.0 supports clustering, which can further improve scalability and responsiveness of Oracle CPQ for enterprise deployments. Requests don't have to go to a certain node in the server and can be load-balanced.
Sessions
Every SOAP call to Web Services v1.0 by another system requires a login SOAP call to establish a session, and a logout call to close the session. Web Services v2.0 includes the user/pass in the payload header, making the service stateless and eliminating the need for login and logout calls.
Eliminating these calls with stateless Web Services reduces complexity and increases the performance of integrations with CPQ.
Standard-based Authentication
Oracle CPQ Web Services 2.0 supports the following two industry standards for authentication:
Oracle CPQ Web Services 2.0 can be invoked using the Web Services Security UsernameToken elements for authentication. As of Oracle CPQ release 2014 R2, the password support is limited to the PasswordText type.
- HTTP Basic Authentication
In the absence of WSEE headers, the HTTP basic authentication standard is also accepted.
Oracle CPQ also supports OAuth, another form of authentication. For more information, see the topic OAuth 2.0 Secure Login Functionality.
End Points
In Web Services 1.0, the SOAP Server URL was always https://testsite.oracle.com/v1_0/receiver.
With Web Services 2.0, each Web Service has its own unique end points, listed below:
- Commerce: /v2_0/receiver/commerce/{commerce process}
- Configuration: /v2_0/receiver/configuration/{product family ID}/{product line ID}/{model ID}
- Parts: /v2_0/receiver/parts
- Price Book Association: /v2_0/receiver/priceBookAssocs
- Data Tables: /v2_0/receiver/dataTables/{table ID}
- Users: /v2_0/receiver/users
- Groups: /v2_0/receiver/groups
- Exchange Rates: /v2_0/receiver/exchangeRates
The Security Web Service is not needed for Web Services 2.0, so there is no longer a Security tab on the Web Services Test page.
For example, for a Commerce Process with the variable name oraclecpqo, the SOAP Web Service URL is:
https://xxx.oracle.com/v2_0/receiver/commerce/oraclecpqo
The URL of the WSDL is the URL of the corresponding Web Service, appended with “?WSDL”. Using the same process, the URL is
https://xxx.oracle.com/v2_0/receiver/commerce/oraclecpqo?WSDL
Each Web Service also has its own namespace. For example, the namespace for the above Commerce Web Service is uniquely identified as:
http://xmlns.oracle.com/cpqcloud/commerce/oraclecpqo
Examining End Points
- Click Admin to go to the Admin Home Page.
-
Click Web Services in the Integration Platform section.
The Web Services Test page opens.
- Confirm that the Web Service Version is 1.0.
- Click the Commerce tab.
- Choose from among the options in the Select API drop-down.
- In the Process Name drop-down, choose a Commerce Process.
-
Notice the SOAPServer URL field, which contains information that was previously in the SOAP XML for the API.
It is: https://testsite.oracle.com/v1_0/receiver
-
It was: https://testsite.oracle.com/v1_0/receiver
-
Change the Web Service Version to 2.0 and examine the SOAP Server URL field.
Now it is is https://testsite.oracle.com/v2_0/receiver/commerce/transaction_bmClone_2
This reflects the unique end points in Web Services 2.0.
Additional Information
To learn more about these technologies, refer to the table below:
Related Topics
See Also
