Cape Clear has announced a free service-oriented architecture (SOA) editor that supersedes its earlier WSDL Editor, "providing a wide range of improvements such as new editing features, new Web Services Description Language (WSDL) views, improved usability and performance."

The Cape Clear SOA Editor offers programmers "a graphical environment that simplifies the creation of standards-based Web Services, which can be deployed into an SOA-based architecture. The SOA Editor provides easy-to-use tools for building services, including automated wizards for common development tasks, support for Web Services standards, tools for testing code, support for XML Schema, and detailed documentation to help programmers get up and running quickly."

W3C XML Schema is said to be "at the heart of SOA design: the SOA Editor includes full support for XML Schema and has been rigorously tested against many of the leading industry schema, including ACORD, Parlay, and SWIFT. As well as providing support for the use of standard WSDL 1.1 elements such as types, messages, operations, ports, port types, bindings, and services, the SOA Editor provides more advanced support for elements such as imports, faults, SOAP headers, multiple bindings, RPC/document-literal encoding styles, and parameter ordering. The tool enables developers to include MIME and non-XML attachments in their service definitions, enabling the creation of complex services across an enterprise."

Validatation of service definitions against XML schemas includes checking for strict compliance with all WSDL and XML standards as well as validation against customized business rules that can be added to improve constraint checking. The SOA Editor "automatically generates HTML descriptions of the created services and their properties, which significantly reduces the administration of service development."

The SOA Editor is integrated with the commercial Cape Clear Business Integration Suite. The tool requires Sun Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.4 or later and has been tested on Windows NT/2000 platforms.

From the Announcement

"While the concept of Service-Oriented Architecture SOA isn't new, the emergence of Web Services has brought SOA center stage," according to John McGuire, CTO at Cape Clear Software. "The problem facing software developers right now is that while most vendors talk about SOA, they're doing nothing to support the creation and deployment of services. SOA starts with the design of a service — for most developers that starting point is WSDL. If you want to build software services, you don't start with the programming language, rather you start with the definition of what the service is and what the service does. The SOA Editor provides developers with an on-ramp for SOA — and it's available today."

SOA provides a standardized means of building software services that can be accessed, shared, and reused across a network. While SOA is a well-established concept, it has become increasingly popular with the emergence of Web Services. The starting point in developing SOA services is the Web Services Description Language (WSDL). The SOA Editor simplifies the creation and editing of WSDL and couples those tools with broad standards support, wizards to simplify development tasks, and extensive support for XML Schema.

The SOA Editor is completely integrated with the commercial Cape Clear Business Integration Suite, which provides a full-featured platform for the fast integration of applications and data. Sometimes referred to as an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB), the Cape Clear Business Integration Suite supports the integration of existing applications and data using service-oriented architecture.

SOA Editor Features

• Promotes SOA Discipline: The SOA Editor provides developers with a graphical tool that promotes best practice in the creation of service-oriented architecture. It enables developers to define their services using WSDL. Once the service is defined, it can be mapped to various applications and technological resources.

• Simplifies WSDL: The SOA Editor provides a clear, easy-to-use way of viewing and editing WSDL that removes much of the complexity of the language. The editor also enables developers to print WSDL and highlight WSDL files to simplify the development process.

• XML Schema Support: XML Schema is at the heart of SOA design. The SOA Editor includes full support for XML Schema and has been rigorously tested against many of the leading industry schema, including ACORD, Parlay, and SWIFT.

• Standards Support: One of the major strengths of Web Services is the unanimous support for standards. The SOA Editor has been built from the ground up to adhere to those standards, including WSDL 1.1 and SOAP.

• Sophisticated WSDL Editing: As well as providing support for the use of standard WSDL elements such as types, messages, operations, ports, port types, bindings, and services, the SOA Editor also provides more advanced support for elements such as imports, faults, SOAP headers, multiple bindings, and parameter ordering.

• Building Complex Services: The SOA Editor enables developers to include MIME and non-XML attachments in their service definitions, enabling the creation of complex services across an enterprise.

• Easier Service Testing: Developers can use the SOA Editor to validate their service as it is created, which provides early warning of any potential problems and bugs.

• Automatic Documentation: The SOA Editor automatically generates HTML descriptions of the created services and their properties, which significantly reduces the administration of service development.

Cape Clear Software (http://www.capeclear.com) has one focus: creating Web Services technology that reduces the business costs of software integration and development. Cape Clear products offer organizations the opportunity to smooth the internal flow of business information and streamline business integration. Cape Clear's Web Services software products are a simple, fast, and economical solution to software integration based on open Internet standards. Founded in 1999, Cape Clear has offices in Dublin, London, California, and Massachusetts.