Web Service Discovery Using UDDI Registries in SAP Web AS 6.

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Web Service Discovery Using UDDI

Registries in SAP Web AS 6.40
Authro

Web service discovery is the process of locating a

Web service for a service requester. The Web Service
Description (WSD) for the Web service, which is
used to describe the Web service, is in a standardized,
machine-processable format that is typically expressed
in Web Services Description Language (WSDL).
Given the multitude of Web services created at a given
company, and their standardized form, it makes sense
to have an open repository (or registry) where
you can publish Web services you have created, or
where you can subscribe to already-existing Web
services that suit your needs. Universal Description,
Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)1 defines the standard for implementing this type of repository, referred
to as a UDDI registry. UDDI registries are hosted by
many organizations, including SAP, Microsoft, and
IBM. Because SAP Web AS 6.20 didnt offer any
UDDI integration features, you had to use an external
UDDI client tool to search a UDDI or to manually
publish a WSD to a UDDI. However, SAP Web AS
6.40 comes with a range of supporting publish and
subscribe features integrated into SAP tools.

Publishing a Web Service to a UDDI Registry

In SAP Web AS 6.40, you have two options for
publishing a Web service:

From the Object Navigator (transaction SE80)

via Web service definition2 maintenance. From
the UDDI tab, you can publish the Web service
to any UDDI registry that is maintained in the

Go to www.uddi.org for more information.

A Web service definition is specific to SAP and is used in the context

of SAP Web AS to identify the Web service within SAP. SAP often
refers to a Web service definition as a WSD, which can be a source
of confusion because the acronym also stands for Web Service
Description, which is a W3C standard WSDL document that provides
the information a requester needs to call a service.

For site licenses and volume subscriptions, call 1-781-751-8799.

SUDDIREG transaction.3 Choose this method

when you are only running the ABAP stack.

From Web service administration using a UDDI

client.4 Choose this method when you are running
both the ABAP and Java stacks and you want to
use a UDDI client for publishing Web services.
With this approach, you use the same tool for
publishing ABAP-based and Java-based Web
services. In the WSADMIN transaction, you
can maintain the address of the UDDI client and
whether you want to access the client directly or
via Business Server Pages (BSPs). Follow the
menu path GoTo Administration Settings in
the WSADMIN transaction. Although you can
go ahead and implement BSP-based access in the
uddiclpublish BSP application, publishing it via
direct access is generally sufficient.

Both options support the use of any UDDI

registry, either within or external to SAP.

Searching for a Web Service to Subscribe to

in a UDDI Registry
You might also want to locate a particular Web service
to subscribe to. In this case, you need to search a
UDDI registry. With the SAP tools, you can search
any UDDI that is maintained in the UDDI client.
You have the following options for searching a
UDDI registry:
3

For more information on the SUDDIREG transaction and how to

integrate a UDDI registry, go to the SAP Help Portal at
http://help.sap.com.

SAP provides a UDDI client on the SAP Web AS 6.40 Java stack
(http://host:java-port/uddiclient). This UDDI client provides features
for publishing Web services to a UDDI or searching for a Web service
on a UDDI. The UDDI client can integrate a range of UDDIs, such as
those provided by IBM, Microsoft, and SAP.

SAP Professional Journal

July/August 2005

Use the uddiclientfind ICF service on the SAP

Web AS 6.40 ABAP stack. This service is a
BSP application for searching any UDDI that is
maintained with the SUDDIREG transaction.
Choose this method when you are only running
the ABAP stack.

Choose UDDI as the WSDL source when

creating a client proxy for a Web service
requester application in the Object Navigator
(transaction SE80). This method automatically
invokes the uddiclientfind ICF service. Choose
from one of the maintained UDDIs in order to
search for a WSDL in a UDDI to use for proxy
generation.

www.SAPpro.com

Use the UDDI client tool on the SAP Web AS

6.40 Java stack. Choose this method when
you are running the Java stack. In my opinion,
this tool is more convenient that the ABAP-based
BSP application. Once you find the WSD for
the Web service you wish to subscribe to, you can
easily download it or use the URI of the WSDL
for proxy generation in the ABAP stack.

These UDDI features have opened the SAP

world to global Web services. Regardless of whether
you are using the ABAP or Java stack, you can now
publish your Web service to any UDDI registry and
search for any Web service that is published in any
UDDI registry.

2005 SAP Professional Journal. Reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.