What are the best books for SOAP webservices?

Question

My team is about to build a new product and we are using SOAP webservices as the interface between the client and server. There are other book posts on stackoverflow, but I couldn't find one that matched my needs.

My manager will be purchasing books for our team to use as a resource so...

What are the best books about SOAP webservices?

(Please list each book suggestion in a separate answer)

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If it helps select a "best" book we are using a technology stack consisting of a JBoss app server, Spring for the business logic and controller. (Spring MVC included) and primarily a Flex front end (but perhaps JSPs for a web front end).

We would mostly use SOAP to communicate between the client and the server, ie communicating between Spring on the server side, and Flex on the client side.

Answer 1

This really depends on what technology platform you are using. Web services are different depending on what language you want to write them in.

Answer 2

"SOA in Practice" by Nicolai Josuttis is worth a look. While not technology specific, it is well worth reading and learning more about the concepts and design behind web services as part of your research.

This book covers some of the basics, such as terminology (which can vary between teams!) and the pros and cons of implementing SOA.

If you've got the concepts straight, you should be able to find implementation specific examples and tips in your API documentation!

Answer 3

The best book I've come across, by some margin, is the O'Reilly book Web Services Essentials.

It's getting pretty dated now, but it's great for understanding the concepts.

For understanding a specific technology stack (you mentioned JBoss), you'll probably need something else too.