Hello,
For internal reasons, we have decided to move this DB2 on Campus blog to the following site:
http://blog-db2oncampus.blogspot.com/
Hope to see you there!
Cheers, Raul.
Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
This year the student’s presentation I’m delivering as part of the DB2 on Campus program is titled “Web 2.0 and DB2 demos”. I first explain in simple terms the concepts of SOA, Web 2.0, XML, and pureXML technologies. Then I mention two approaches of free application development. One of them uses a J2EE approach with free (and some open source) software like Linux/Eclipse/DB2 Express-C/WAS-CE. These are used to develop Web Services. The other free application development approach is to use open source languages like RoR or PHP with DB2 Express-C.
For the first approach, I show a live demo to create data web services using IBM Data Studio (an Eclipse-based tool), which connects to a DB2 Express-C database, deploying the Web service on a WAS-CE app server (that comes as separate install image in IBM Data Studio). This demo was created by the team led by Michael Schenker (IBM Data Web Services and SOA Team Lead) and it’s recorded on a video in channeldb2.com. I’m including below answers to some of the typical questions I encounter when showing this demo live. Thanks again to Michael for helping out with this information!:
Q1.
The data Web Services created with IBM Data Studio and deployed to WAS-CE were invoked from a browser for the REST version. How about the SOAP version?
A1.
Web Browsers do not support SOAP right away – however – you could (under certain circumstances) use some JavaScript (e.g. the XmlHttpRequest object) to call the Web Service using SOAP. You need to be aware of the browser’s cross-host-scripting security issues – the JavaScript which executes the XmlHttpReuqest against the service needs to be hosted at the same Web-/Application server as the Web Service itself – otherwise the browser will block the request.
Q2.
How about invoking the Web Service from an application?
A2.
There are several different ways how you can call (consume) a Web Service. You can use simple HTTP calls from different programming languages. For example, a Java program can simply use the plain Java HTTP API to call the service. You could also use some tool you feed the WSDL with and which generates you some Web service client skeleton code (e.g. wsdl2java – Axis 2 or wsdl.exe – MS .NET). You can also use some pre-build tools like curl. Also for this tool you would need to know how the request XML document has to look like.
There are also Web Service consumer UDFs you can use in DB2 as documented here. You could invoke these UDFs from an application. If you plan to use these UDFs, ensure you work with them starting with DB2 9.5 fixpack 2 (to be available soon). Prior to this fixpack the UDFs were broken in DB2 9.5.
Q3.
How do you call the stored procedure operation in the Web service from a browser directly from the URL? I think for the REST version is just like passing parameters in Http-post/get. How is it done in SOAP?
A3.
As soon as you made the SQL statement or stored procedure call a Web service operation there is no distinction between an operation with an SQL statement behind or one which has a stored procedure call. In both cases input values (which are host variables in case for SQL statements and in or in/out parameters in case of stored procedures) you either provide them as key/value pairs (when using HTTP/GET or POST) or inside the SOAP request.
Q4.
What about security issues with Data Web Services?
A4.
You can enable security when invoking Data Web Service operations using a J2EE security scheme, which is transport-level security. It requires application server-specific extensions inside the Data Web Services application.You can set up security using WAS (or the app server you use). If using WAS take a look at the following tutorials. Security is covered in part 2 and 3:
- Data Web Services on WAS – part 1
- Data Web Services on WAS – part 2
- Data Web Services on WAS – part 3
In a previous blog entry, I mentioned we reached almost 2000 students and 150 teachers in about 50 different universities in ASEAN. The story does not end there. In Vietnam, the local AI representative (Khiem Nguyen) is replicating the model and reaching more universities. For example, last week, he visited FPT university and delivered the “Web 2.0 and DB2 demos” presentation to 60+ students and 5 teachers. Following the model used to deploy the DB2 on Campus program and the IBM Academic Qualification, he then met with faculty to present the program, which was well received. FPT is now happy to participate in the IBM Academic Qualification program, and will likely send some teachers to the faculty training I will deliver at UNS university this August 18th. Khiem did a great job as well to find many student volunteers to translate the “Getting Started with DB2 Express-C” book to Vietnamese and to coordinate the work. He also found local funding to print hardcopies. We distributed some of these hardcopies during the DB2 on Campus tour, and he is distributing more as he visits more universities. The picture shown is from Duytan university in Danang, Vietnam where 80+ students and 3 teachers attended the presentation.
In Indonesia, Binus university has a program in Computer Science where almost 700 students choose the Data Management specialization every year. After the DB2 on Campus student’s presentation, faculty members agreed that they would be offering DB2 in their curriculum. We are currently working with them to prepare the materials they can use that are suitable to what they want to achieve. They have indicated that starting this September, 600 out of the 700 students will receive training on DB2 per year as part of their curriculum if the material is ready. They plan to use the “Getting Started with DB2 Express-C” book and corresponding DB2 on Campus videos as part of the course, and we are also working on creating the course project. The picture shows some teachers and the dean of the computer science department at Binus university, listening to the faculty presentation about the DB2 on Campus and IBM Academic Qualification programs.
Similar examples where DB2 is being added to university curriculum is happening in Thailand and Malaysia. I’ll report on that on a later blog.
Cheers, Raul.
Learn DB2 Express-C in one day (OK, maybe in two!) from these free resources
Published July 1, 2008 Uncategorized Leave a CommentVideos, PDF presentations or a book – choose the format you prefer to learn DB2 Express-C quickly! The content is the same but in multiple formats:
- Download and watch the DB2 on Campus Videos
- Review the DB2 on Campus presentations (PDF included when downloading the videos)
- Review the book “Getting Started with DB2 Express-C”
Hands-on exercises (“Quicklabs”) are included. Moreover, the “Getting Started with DB2 Express-C” book is available in several languages including Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese, and Portuguese (Brazil). The translated versions of the book can be found with the English version here, and were translated by volunteers of the DB2 community!
This material is also used during the two-day DB2 on Campus instructor workshop. It is also included in the DB2 on Campus DVD that is distributed during DB2 on Campus presentations worldwide.
On a recent visit to Indonesia, the Indonesian Ministry of Education indicated they would be uploading these videos to their online e-learning system reaching at least 14,000 students!
Cheers, Raul.
DB2 Express-C, the free edition of DB2 was announced on January of 2006. Given that I was traveling to Brazil to deliver training to IBM Business Partners, I took this as an opportunity to promote DB2 Express-C, and pureXML technology at universities in Brazil.
My visit coincided with riots taking place in Sao Paulo, and I almost had to return to Canada!. Fortunately the situation improved, and I was able to visit 5 universities in the area. Organizing these events required a lot of planning from the local team, so canceling last minute would have been a big problem.
The presentations were very successful. The IBM Brazil team did an amazing job to get a great audience for the presentations (close to 500), and I was glad I received comments like “This was a very interesting presentation. I normally don’t stay for the entire duration of a presentation, but I really enjoyed this one!”. From my part, one of the things I like the best about Brazil is the people!. They are very hospitable, happy and kind.
I started blogging about “DB2 on Campus” in the DB2 Express-C blog but from now on, I will be blogging here since it’s more specific to DB2 on Campus activities.
Send me a note or comment on this post if you’d like to join as a contributor to this blog.
Cheers, Raul.
Hello everyone,
I’m starting this blog to talk about things mainly related to the DB2 on Campus program. If you’d like to be a regular contributor to this blog, send me a note or comment on this entry to contact you!. The blog is mainly in English, but feel free to write things on your own native language.
Let’s start blogging!
Cheers, Raul.
