At the JavaOne Developer Conference, Sun Microsystems has issued several announcements for support of XML-based web services. Sun revealed its plans for native support of 'web services' as key components in the next version of the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE). "Working through the Java Community Process, Sun will leverage several web services related technology projects now underway in the JCP." Sun also "announced plans to make available a Web Services Pack, an all-in-one download containing key technologies to simplify building of web services using the Java 2 Platform. The announcement also lays out the roadmap for incorporation of the technologies into integrated development environments (IDEs) from key software development tools suppliers. The Web Services Pack is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) and architectures developed by Sun and the other members of the Java Community that provide support in the Java technology for important web services features. These are to include: (1) JavaServer Faces, which establishes a standard API for creating Java Web application graphical user interfaces (GUIs), eliminating the burden on developers to create and maintain the GUI infrastructure from scratch. (2) Tomcat, a free, open-source implementation of JavaServer Pages and Java Servlet technologies developed under the Jakarta project at the Apache Software Foundation. (3) JAX Pack, a collection of XML-based Java APIs [Java API for XML Processing, Java API for XML Registries, Java API for XML Messaging, Java Architecture for XML Binding, Java API for Remote Procedure Call]." The new Java Community Process web site lists ten JSRs (Java Specification Requests) which focus on the development of Java technology APIs specifically targeted at building XML-based applications.

Summary of XML-related JSRs:

• [5] XML Parsing Specification - "The Java API for XML Parsing (JAXP) allows developers to easily use XML Parsers in their applications via the industry standard SAX and DOM APIs."
• [31] XML Data Binding Specification - "A facility for compiling an XML schema into one or more Java classes which can parse, generate, and validate documents that follow the schema."
• [63] Java API for XML Processing 1.1 - "The proposed specification will define a set of implementation independent portable APIs supporting XML Processing."
• [67] Java APIs for XML Messaging 1.0 - "JAXM provides an API for packaging and transporting business transactions using on-the-wire protocols being defined by ebXML.org, OASIS, W3C and IETF."
• [93] Java API for XML Registries 1.0 (JAXR) - "JAXR provides an API for a set of distributed Registry Services that enables business-to-business integration between business enterprises, using the protocols being defined by ebXML.org, OASIS, ISO 11179."
• [101] Java APIs for XML RPC - "Java APIs to support emerging industry XML RPC standards."
• [102] JDOM 1.0 - "JDOM is a way to represent an XML document for easy and efficient reading, manipulation, and writing."
• [104] XML Trust Service APIs - "This JSR is to define a standard set of APIs and a protocol for a "Trust Service" A key objective of the protocol design is to minimize the complexity of applications using XML Signature. By becoming a client of the trust service, the application is relieved of the complexity and syntax of the underlying PKI used to establish trust relationships, which may be based upon a different specification such as X.509/PKIX, SPKI or PGP."
• [105] XML Digital Signature APIs - "This JSR is to define a standard set of APIs for XML digital signatures services. The XML Digital Signature specification is defined by the W3C. This proposal is to define and incorporate the high level implementation independent Java APIs."
• [106] XML Digital Encryption APIs "This JSR is to define a standard set of APIs for XML digital encryption services. This proposal is to define and incorporate the high level implementation independent Java APIs."