Hi Tobias,
I think JXTA (www.jxta.org) could be a good match for the networking
part.
They have a Java implementation of the protocol and one the libraries
(JXTA-CMS, cms.jxta.org) is designed to share content in a P2P fashion.
From jxta.org :
"JXTA™ technology is a set of open protocols that allow any connected
device on the network ranging from cell phones and wireless PDAs to
PCs and servers to communicate and collaborate in a P2P manner.
JXTA peers create a virtual network where any peer can interact with
other peers and resources directly even when some of the peers and
resources are behind firewalls and NATs or are on different network
transports.
Project JXTA Objectives
* Interoperability - across different peer-to-peer systems and
communities
* Platform independence - multiple/diverse languages, systems,
and networks
* Ubiquity - every device with a digital heartbeat
Imagine the possibilities!
* Find peers and resources on the network even across firewalls
* Share files with anyone across the network
* Create your own group of peers of devices across different
networks
* Communicate securely with peers across public networks"
Regards,
Cedric
Le 19 avr. 06 à 05:06, Tobias Thierer a écrit :
Hi,
I hope this is the right place to ask - otherwise I'd be glad to
get some
pointers to better places. I have a task for which SOAP over XMPP
(JEP-0072,
http://www.jabber.org/jeps/jep-0072.html ) might be the right tool.
However,
I am entirely new to Jabber and web services, so I would like to get
feedback on the following questions:
1.) Is XMPP / SOAP over XMPP the right technology to use for my
problem
(see below for a detailed description)?
2.) If yes, then which existing Java libraries would allow me to
get the
job done most efficiently? I know of the Smack and the JSO
(jabber
stream objects) libraries which implement XMPP (but not SOAP over
XMPP), but don't know which of them is suitable, stable and
easy to
use. I don't know of any existing implementation of SOAP over
XMPP.
3.) If XMPP/SOAP is not the right technology to use for my
problem, what
else should I use?
Here comes a description of my current status, and of what I would
want to
achieve:
I've written an application in Java that allows users to organise
documents
(e.g. DNA sequences, journal articles, protein structure) and perform
operations on them, and to import such documents from public
databases. The
documents are XML files, typically a couple KBytes large, and there
would be
typically 100-1000 (up to ~ 10,000) documents in a client's
repository.
Now as a new feature, I'd like to give users the option of making the
documents that they have locally in their repository available to
other
users. To avoid firewall issues, traffic between the clients would
probably
have to be relayed by a server that I provide. The clients would have
contact lists (stored on the server) of people with whom they want
to share
data.
Obviously Jabber / XMPP suggests itself as a protocol for
maintaining the
contact list. However, I am not really writing an instant messenger
but
rather a P2P filesharing program, so I am not sure if XMPP is
suitable (is
it?).
Specifically, after Romeo finds out that Juliet has shared her
repository,
he must be able to perform the following operations:
1.) Send a filter (e.g. a search query) to Juliet and get a list of
documents in return that match the filter. This list should not
contain the actual files, but only some description (filename,
filetype,
size, etc.).
2.) Retrieve a specific shared file (identified through its
description)
3.) in the future, there would be additional operations.
This sounds like SOAP (although I don't need interaction with other
languages, so I could use RMI or any other sort of RPC facility).
Does it
seem right to use XMPP as the transport for SOAP? Or should I rely
on other
lower-level protocols for enhanced performance?
Should I:
a) Use XMPP for everything, as outlined above
b) Use XMPP for the contact list and to find out with whom to
share data,
but then use SOAP over some other transport, or Java RMI, or
anything
else, for the remaining communication?
c) Use something completely different altogether?
Which libraries should I use, and how feasible does the whole thing
sounds?
Any other hints on how I should proceed?
I'd appreciate any feedback on the matter - as I said, I am very
new to
Jabber and Web services, and I don't know how these things are
typically
done. Of course, I don't want to make avoidable errors that others
have made
before me.
Best regards, and thanks in advance for any help and pointers.
Tobias
