Microsoft Offers Web Services Development Kit For Visual Studio.Net

Microsoft

The Microsoft Web Services Development Kit (WSDK), available at the company's MSDN site, allows developers to build Web services using the latest round of Web services standards, including WS-Security, WS-Routing and WS-Attachments.

For example, using the Microsoft WSDK, a developer can add a few lines of code to an existing Web services application to enable support for digital signatures, attachments and routing, according to Microsoft. And with the technology preview version of the WSDK, developers can craft secure Web services across different platforms and domains, including digital signatures and encryption of SOAP messages that comply with the WS-Security standard.

The kit also allows developers to route an XML-based Web service and enable SOAP messages to travel serially to multiple destinations along a message path. Microsoft and IBM proposed the WS-Security and WS-Routing standards last year.

In addition, the WSDK enables developers to add attachments to SOAP messages complying with the e WS-Attachments specification, which Microsoft and IBM jointly submitted to the IETF in July 2002.

The WSDK is one of several offerings that Microsoft has made available to spur development of XML Web services and advance its .Net platform, including Visual Studio.Net and the upcoming launch of the Windows.Net server with the .Net framework embedded into the operating system.

In July, Microsoft also announced the availability of the Office Web services toolkit to ease development of Web services for its Office suite.

CenterBeam's Chief Technology Officer Glenn Ricart said his company is evaluating Microsoft's Web Services Developer's Kit in its continuing search to strengthen security.

"You can never have too much security or manageability," Ricart said. "CenterBeam's clients expect best security practices and automated, remote manageability is essential to CenterBeam's service."