XPP Web Services Toolkit Overview
The Web Services interface makes available the rich XML publishing capabilities of XPP to Web interfaces, portals, and application integrations, providing rapid deployment of automated XML publishing solutions in environments as diverse as corporate IT services to consumer “publish on demand” applications.
The Web Services offering exposes the proven standards-based composition, transformation and rendering capabilities of the XPP software through a SOAP/XML interface. This API provides easy access for customers and developers, enabling them to build customized end-user interfaces in support of distributed XML publishing services. Web Services also supports the growing deployment of XPP as an embedded batch processing engine able to transform XML content to PDF, print, and Web output on demand.
XPP Web Services extends the “autoprocessing” model which customers have relied on for over 10 years to deliver millions of electronic and print publications and provides unique capabilities not found in other applications. End users and their customers will benefit from the ability to connect remotely to trigger and monitor complex publishing events. Partners, integrators, and service providers will benefit from the ease of application development and support, while leveraging proven standards.
What are Web Services?
Web Services are many things. They describe technology, standards, and applications deployment methods (including licensing and access). They are in essence:
- A software application that supports direct interactions with other software applications using XML based messages via internet-based protocols.
- A way of sending messages between applications using standard protocols through the Web
- Like an API or a set of remote procedure calls
- A way of getting something to happen on another machine
What Are Web Services Good For?
One of the key benefits of our new Web Services offering is our ability to work in a more Web Centric, distributed world. Now, users and developers can cost effectively create and deploy more Web centric applications for content management and publishing as relates to SDL solutions:
- Supporting a Web-centric workflow
- Providing remote access
- Integrating with enterprise applications
- Providing an opportunity for improved interfaces
- Appeal to end users, developers/integrators, resellers
What are the Potential Uses for XPP Web Services?
XPP Web Services changes the rules for automated publishing solutions. Publishers, product support/technical information groups, e-commerce applications and, increasingly, IT management, are required to support a wider variety of customers and users, products and markets, business models, and geographies. XPP Web Services enables each user to create black box publishing and transformation environments and expose this functionality through tailored interfaces and integrations specific to their organization or consumer profile.
Examples of the potential application of XPP Web Services include dynamic content assembly and publishing from a Web Content Management system, remote creation and publishing of customized and localized product documentation, commercial publishing interaction through Web interfaces, catalog production with dynamic database integration, and IT server-based processing of XML to PDF in applications similar to solutions already implemented by SDL customers.
- Demand publishing – technical or training documentation
- Remote style update and review – journals, other commercial publishing applications
- Forms-based content input in distributed workflows
- Remote input, processing, and review of financial printing content (including EDGAR)
- Creation and production of targeted marketing materials
- Graphics management integration
How do Web Services Open Workflows?
Application integration becomes feasible across a wider variety of users, functions, and business and technology models including potentially seamless integration through these new communication standards. They enable customers of our product to rethink their workflow — who does what, and when. Physical location is now far less an obstacle – browser based interfaces enable reduced learning curves and application integration based on subject matter expert business need.
Web Services also opens in XPP new ways to assign responsibility. This offers a broader variety of potential users access to the capabilities of XPP without having to learn the traditional interfaces to the product. Applications can make available relevant capabilities, mask others, and have tailored interfaces based on the specific application.
With Web Services, Web interfaces can be:
- Cross-platform
- User-frienuly
- Tailored to the task
What can Web Services do for XPP?
The XPP Web Services API promotes all of these through its open exposure of XPP technologies in a browser window. Specific functions are defined and interfaces created for each application or customer. With Web Services, more IT staff and internal programmers are able to create solutions based on core functions of our software but driven by the specific requirements and tools found in a particular site.
Web services enables easier integration, more rapid implementation time, reduced support costs, and more fluid and agile integration with:
- Content management systems
- Workflow management systems
- Other publishing applications
- Authoring tools
- Graphics tools
What is Included in XPP Web Services?
The XPP Web Services Toolkit builds on the proven capabilities of XPP along with functions for e-mail notification, support for SOAP attachments, file manipulation capability, and much more. Through the standards-based XPP Web Services interface, XPP users can proof, modify, and publish their documents in a browser from virtually any location.
- An SDK
- Sample applications
- Full reference documentation
- Note: Requires a Web Server (IIS, Apache, Tomcat, etc.)
What is available in the Web Services Sample Application?
The packaged Sample Application for XPP offers a view as to what can be created and delivered based on the initial release of this development kit.
- Consolidated product dashboard – XPP functions in one browser window
- Fetch, View, XML Forms, XML Edit, Publish, Properties
- XPP Text and Styles access
- Edit, Publish, Select and Change Styles
- Graphics Management of XPP Graphics Libraries
- View, Update, Add New
On what Standards are Web Services Based?
- XML — the foundation
- SOAP — Simple Object Access Protocol
- WSul — Web Services Description Language
- UDDI — Universal Description Discovery and Integration
What is the licensing for XPP Web Services?
The XPP Web Services API is licensed per ADVP server. This licensing is based on the fact that the SDK can offer unlimited access to composition functions and a development environment with no additional requirements for XyView clients or other modules.