Guided interaction: A mechanism to enable ad hoc service interaction

Ad hoc interaction between web services and their clients is a worthwhile but seemingly distant goal. This paper presents guided interaction as an alternative to the current mechanisms for web service interaction which will allow heterogeneous web services and their clients to interact in a relatively simple and direct manner without pre-programmed calls to WSDL interfaces or human intervention at runtime. Guided interaction is based on the exchange of messages that explicitly declare their intent and purpose. A service provider uses an internal plan to collect the input data it requires from the client in order to deliver its capability. It is the nature and sequence of the data requirements specified in the plan and the ability of the client to provide the data that determine the path of a dialogue rather than a pre-defined conversation protocol. Clients do not have to know in advance a service’s operation signatures or the order of operations. They can request further informati...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2007
• Where: ISF
• Authors: Phillipa Oaks, Arthur H. M. ter Hofstede
• Keywords: Ad Hoc Interaction, Heterogeneous Web Services, ISF 2007, Web Services