I currently use Apache Axis. But I am creating a new project in Intellij IDEA and I have the option to add one of the following:
1) Apache Axis 2) Glassfish /JAX-WS 2.x RI / Metro 1.x / JWSDP 2.0 3) Restful Web services
I am choosing Axis because it's the one I am used to, but I am still wondering if it's the easier option.
Hi,
Are you using Axis 1 or 2? From memory the Axis 1 stubs that are generated are not the easiest to work with (it has been a while).
JAX-WS uses JAXB to bind your WSDL to Java objects and as such is fairly easy to use. It is also a part of JavaEE 5 so you may find it easier to move between application servers. This is also how CXF does things. I have used both of these in the past and found them good to use.
You will find RESTful services are a a different approach to web services so unless you want to learn this approach, you might want to use one of the others.
In the end you should set two or three copies of a sample project, each using a different framework. Trying them out is the only real way to answer this question for yourself.
Cheers, Shane
I'd go for JAX-WS 2.x RI / Metro 1.x, it's definitely easier than Axis (which is totally outdated by the way). And even Axis2 sucks compared to JAX-WS RI in terms of ease of use (I hate Axis2 deployment model) and performances (see JAX-WS RI 2.1 benchmark details). NetBeans has plenty of good tutorials that you can transpose to Idea. Have a look at http://netbeans.org/kb/61/websvc/intro-ws.html for example.