EGL supports the business use of service-oriented architecture
(SOA) and includes a construct that you can use to create a service,
which can be deployed in one of three ways:
- As a Web (SOAP) service, which exchanges data in
a text-based format called SOAP. The help system refers to this kind
of service as a SOAP service. The Workbench also provides ways to
create and use a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) file, which
includes information about accessing a SOAP service.
You can deploy
an EGL-generated SOAP service on any of three platforms: IBM® WebSphere® Application
Server,
Apache Tomcat, or CICS®. This
kind of service can be accessed by many kinds of logic, including
EGL-generated Java™ code, Rich
UI applications, and EGL-generated COBOL code that runs on CICS or IBM i.
- As a Web (REST) service, which provides a simple
way of exchanging data in a variety of text-based formats. Web (REST)
services are also referred to as EGL REST services. You can deploy
an EGL REST service on any Java Platform,
Enterprise Edition (JEE)-compliant application server. This kind of
service can be accessed by EGL-generated Java code
and Rich UI applications.
- As an EGL service, which uses a proprietary format
for data exchange. The main benefits of using an EGL service are first,
it gives faster response than is possible with either kind of Web
service, and second, it reduces your company's need to maintain
WSDL and related files.
You can deploy an EGL service on and make
it available to almost any EGL target platform, except IMS™. Rich UI applications can access SOAP or
REST services from any source, but can access only a subset of EGL
services.
You can also expose the logic in an IBM i
called program or service program as if that logic were provided from
a SOAP service or EGL REST service.