Web Services (KWebS)
Project Overview
Related Theses:
- Stephan Wersig, Ein Web Service für das automatische Layout von Graphen, October 2011 (pdf)
The KWebS project aims at delivering the automatic layout of the KIELER project to users on a platform independent basis. The main component of the project is the server. It is based on an Eclipse Rich Client Application (RCA) and encapsulates the KIELER Infrastructure for Meta Layout (KIML) in order to expose the layout over a network. To make the layout accessible for other platforms, the server hides the java nature of the layout behind a web service and supports a variety of formats for the representation of user models. The server provides access to the layout based on two architectures:
- the HTTP-based service which uses simple POST requests to retrieve the layout. We provide several language bindings to connect from any language.
- the SOAP web service uses the reference implementation of the Java API for XML - Web Services (JAX-WS), which is being maintained by the Metro project (jax-ws.java.net), and provides the layout on a sessionless basis
- Clients enable using the service-based layout inside existing applications. As a good starting point, try the command-line layout tool.
The following subpages first show how we can download and set up a layout server on our own, e.g. to provide layout inside a companies network. Further pages discuss the specific properties of either the SOAP- or HTTP-based solution. There is also a page on the supported graph formats.
Then we get to know the API provided by KWebS, after which the integration of the service-based layout with KWebS into our own projects is discussed. The last section gives us a list of configuration options supported by the server of KWebS.