ASPnews.com -- Strategies : Sun Leads Even in the Web Services Tool Category

The MapPoint Web Service is a programmable Web service hosted by Microsoft and used by enterprises and independent software developers to integrate location-based services, such as maps, driving directions, and proximity searches into software applications and business processes. The MapPoint Web Service also provides an extensive set of mapping-related content such as business listings and points of interest (POI) that can be used within applications. MapPoint Web Service does not require large financial investments or a high-level of expertise in geographic information system (GIS) technologies, which have been traditional barriers associated with developing LBS applications.

Provider

Microsoft

Features of MapPoint® 3.5

Finding addresses
Finding non-addressable places
Reverse geocoding
Customizing locations
Routing
Map rendering

Reasons for selection

Provides powerful mapping capabilities for integrating locations into business solutions
Delivers a cost-effective investment by removing the IT management burden
Enables developers with common developer tools and builds upon a standards-based programming model
Delivers a service-level commitment with at least 99.9% uptime and guaranteed response time of less than one second per map (as measured inside Microsoft’s data center)

Download

MapPoint Web Service Download

4. NuSOAP

NuSOAP is a group of PHP classes that allows developers to create and consume SOAP Web services. It does not require any special PHP extensions, which makes it usable by all PHP developers, regardless of ISP, server, or platform.

Provider

NuSOAP is an open source project provided by NuSphere and Dietrich Ayala.

Features

Support for WSDL 1.1
SSL support
HTTP proxy support
SOAP 1.1 support
Support for document/literal and rpc/encoded services

Reasons for selection

Stability
Ease of use
Flexibility

Download

Both source code and binaries can be downloaded from SourceForge.

5. ParaSoft SOAPtest^TM

Parasoft SOAPtest is a comprehensive tool for Testing Web services. It provides functionalities such as WSDL validation, unit and functional testing of the client, and server and performance testing. SOAPtest also addresses key Web service issues such as interoperability, security, change management, and scalability. SOAPtest is available for Windows 2000/XP, Linux, and Solaris.

Provider

Parasoft

Features of SOAPtest 3.0

WSDL schema verification and compliance to standards
Automatic test creation using WSDL and HTTP Traffic
Data-driven testing through data sources (Excel, CSV, Database Queries, and so on)
Scenario-based testing through XML Data Bank and Test Suite Logic
Flexible scripting with Java, JavaScript, and Python
WS-I Conformance: Basic Profile 1.1
WS-Security, SAML, Username Token, X.509, XML Encryption, and XML Signature support
MIME Attachment support
Asynchronous Testing: JMS, Parlay (X), SCP, WS-Addressing support
Windows Perfmon, SNMP, and JMX Monitors
Detailed Report generation in HTML, XML, and Text formats
Real-Time graphs and charts

Reasons for selection

Perform series of comprehensive WSDL tests that verify every aspect of the WSDL document
Test and verify client/server functionality before deployment
Ensure the reliability, quality, security, and interoperability of Web service
Verify data integrity and server/client functionality
Identify server capabilities under stress and load
Uniform test suites can be rolled over from unit testing to functional testing to load testing
Prevent errors, pinpoint weaknesses, and stress test long before deployment
Accelerate time to market