Mailing-List: contact axis-dev-help@xml.apache.org; run by ezmlm
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: axis-dev@xml.apache.org
Message-ID: 
 <CB1FF0A474AEA84EA0206D5B05F6A4CB016E6182@S1001EXM02.macromedia.com>
From: Tom Jordahl <tomj@macromedia.com>
To: "'axis-dev@xml.apache.org'" <axis-dev@xml.apache.org>
Subject: RE: Possibility of creating stand-alone and embeddable versions o
	f Ax is was RE: cvs commit: xml-axis/java/samples/attachments EchoAttachm
	ent.  java
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 17:20:51 -0400
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"


I am partial to the Jetty idea, sounds pretty neat.

I am not a big fan of the NotSoSimpleAxisServer, but it might not be so bad.  I have no sense of how much work it is to make a simple servlet container.  Could we steal Jetty code and use it in SimpleAxisServer?

I would support the Jetty idea only if there was a clear distinction (via jar files, docs and such) as to where axis.jar ended and axis-with-a-servlet-container.jar started. One of the design goal of Axis is to try and keep it small.

--
Tom Jordahl
Macromedia

 
-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Gordie [mailto:Alan_Gordie@payformance.com]
Sent: Monday, April 22, 2002 10:43 AM
To: 'axis-dev@xml.apache.org'
Subject: Possibility of creating stand-alone and embeddable versions of
Ax is was RE: cvs commit: xml-axis/java/samples/attachments
EchoAttachment. java


Ahh, this seems like a good time for us to discuss SimpleAxisServer a bit.
I'll also throw my ideas about stand-alone / embeddable Axis in as well.

It appears to me that the SimpleAxisServer is being used primarily for
automated testing, as well as quick-and-dirty service deployment for some
folks (again, I'm sure this is for testing).  Now, in order to add support
for testing the servlet-based GUI that I've been working on via
SimpleAxisServer without requiring Axis to be deployed to a
Tomcat/Websphere/etc server, I need to do one of the following:  

a)  Add query string / parameter parsing and then manually drive my classes
in a non-servlet manner behind the scenes.
b)  Evolve SimpleAxisServer into a basic-servlet container and then host
AxisServlet as a servlet.
c)  Use a free, embeddable servlet container that already fits the bill.
(Jetty?)

My comments...

a)  This would be a one-off type of change that would only serve my purposes
and would not necessarily be reusable in other contexts.  Therefore, I'm
leaning away from this method.

b)  This solution could be a Good Thing(tm) if the concensus is that we
should grow SimpleAxisServer into NotSoSimpleAxisServer.  What do you guys
think?  I'm ok with implementing a very basic container if need be, but this
is not my preference.

c)  We could use an http server / servlet container that supports
HTTP/HTTPS, MIME, as well as the Servlet API to provide a one-stop shop for
serious testing and even small production deployments.  Imagine if a user
could simply download Axis and begin deploying WS's.  

I know, I know, most folks doing serious work will already have a server for
deploying Axis, but I would argue that a large majority of newcomers would
find this type of "single jar" solution attractive.

The benefits of c) would be multi-faceted...
 *  Automated testing could be taken up a notch for things like MIME & HTTPS
support.
 *  We could create an "Axis Server" distro that folks could use for
actually deploying WS's.
 *  We could create an "Embeddable Axis" distro that folks could use for
trivially adding support for WS's, both client _and_ server-side into their
existing, and future, applications.  
----These last two could also help to get press/attention for the Axis
project in general.  

Note:  I'm already experienced with embedding Jetty
(http://jetty.mortbay.com/) into our application server and would be glad to
contribute the integration work to make this happen in Axis.  

FYI, Here's the high-level feature list for Jetty (from their website):
*  100% Java Server
*  Open Source
*  HTTP Protocol 1.1
*  Servlet API 2.3
*  Java Server Pages 1.2
*  SSL Support
*  Modular Architecture
*  Embeddable
*  Small & Efficient
*  Flexible Configuration
*  HTML Generation. 
*  EJB & JMX Integration

Also note that I'm not affiliated with Jetty in any way, shape or form.
It's just a really great tool and seems to be appropriate for this type of
thing, IMHO.

Thanks for reading this far, please let me know what you think of these
ideas.  

Am I way off base here?

Alan


-----Original Message-----
From: Glen Daniels [mailto:gdaniels@macromedia.com]
Sent: Friday, April 19, 2002 2:50 PM
To: 'axis-dev@xml.apache.org'
Subject: RE: cvs commit: xml-axis/java/samples/attachments
EchoAttachment. java


>   Add a functional test for attachments but comment it out since
>   SimpleAxisServer doesn't support it.  If we ever switch to
>   a real server (like Tomcat) ...

...or add MIME support to SimpleAxisServer....

--G