The first in a planned series of tutorials on various mobile development topics, the new "Getting Started with Web Services, JSR 172" tutorial leads Java ME Platform developers through creating a simple hardcoded service example and a MIDlet that uses JSR 172 to interact with that service.

Download tutorial here>> Web Services (JSR 172) is supported by Sony Ericsson Java Platform 6 (JP-6) phones such as the W600 or W810 Walkman phones and newer JP-7 phones including the K610, K800 and W850. This Java Platform approach makes servicing all clients through a single standardized interface a viable proposition. Previously to service mobile clients, custom protocols had to be developed with the side effect of requiring service specific implementation. This lead to increased development and testing time being spent on simply creating infrastructure. As JSR 172 starts to become more wide spread in the mobile phone market, it is now increasingly feasible to complement current solutions with web service equivalents; with an ultimate goal to phase out custom protocols altogether. The tutorial introduces Web Services, outlines how to get started and then presents the steps to create a mobile client in the following sections:

What is a Web Service?
A Web Service is a collection of functions that are brought together into a single entity and exposed to clients over a network. Web Services use XML to transfer information over standardized, open protocols ensuring that Web Services are interoperable and platform neutral. This tutorial also defines Web Service Description Language (WSDL), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

Getting started
This section outlines how to install Apache Tomcat and Apache Axis to enable you to create the hardcoded service example. Apache Axis supports the JWS and WSDD styles of deployment and the code needed to do this is provided.

Creating a mobile client
Using the stub generator in the Sony Ericsson SDK for the Java ME Platform, each step in how to create a MIDlet to access the web service is set out, including screenshots and code.

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More information:

• Download Getting Started with Web Services, JSR 172 tutorial>>
• "Introducing XML Parsing with JSR 172" June 2005, Tip, Trick and Code article>>