XML Interface for Network Services

<h2 id="specification-oriented-approach">Specification-oriented approach</h2>
<p>The specification-oriented approach is at the heart of XINS:
</p>
<ul><li>first specifications need to be written;</li>
<li>then documentation and code is generated from these specifications;</li>
<li>then both testing and implementation can start.</li></ul>
<p>From specifications, XINS is able to generate:
</p>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/HTML/sSc3fT78">HTML</a> documentation</li>
<li>test forms</li>
<li><a href="/facts/SOAP/99DbjMR5">SOAP</a>-compliant <a href="/facts/Web_Services_Description_Language/tQPIot4A">WSDL</a></li>
<li>a basic <a href="/facts/Java_(programming_language)/9ScgFyAL">Java</a> web application</li>
<li>unit test code (in Java)</li>
<li>stubs (in Java)</li>
<li>client-side code (in Java)</li></ul>
<h2 id="components-of-the-xins-technology">Components of the XINS technology</h2>
<p>Technically, XINS is composed of the following:
</p>
<ul><li>An <a href="/facts/XML/clNgUfWk">XML</a>-based specification format for projects, <a href="/facts/Application_programming_interface/GMlN4vUr">APIs</a>, functions, types and error codes</li>
<li>A <a href="/facts/Plain_Old_XML/oeDbclsl">POX</a>-style <a href="/facts/Remote_procedure_call/uMMb9CQw">RPC</a> protocol (called the <i>XINS Standard Calling Convention</i>), compatible with web browsers (<a href="/facts/Hypertext_Transfer_Protocol/TWtvf7JD">HTTP</a> parameters in, <a href="/facts/XML/clNgUfWk">XML</a> out).</li>
<li>A tool for generating human-readable documentation, from the specifications.</li>
<li>A tool for generating <a href="/facts/Web_Services_Description_Language/tQPIot4A">WSDL</a>, from the specifications.</li>
<li>A <a href="/facts/Log4J/fo0Eunj8">Log4J</a>-based technology for logging (called Logdoc), offering a specification format, internationalization of log messages, generation of HTML documentation and generation of code.</li>
<li>A <a href="/facts/Java_(programming_language)/9ScgFyAL">Java</a> library for calling XINS functions, <i>the XINS/Java Client Framework</i>; in xins-client.jar.</li>
<li>A server-side container for Java-based XINS API implementations, the <i>XINS/Java Server Framework</i>; in xins-server.jar. This is like a <a href="/facts/Servlet_container/Pv06YKvB">servlet container</a> for XINS APIs.</li>
<li>A Java library with some common functionality, used by both the XINS/Java Client Framework and the XINS/Java Server Framework: the <i>XINS/Java Common Library</i>, in xins-common.jar.</li></ul>
<p>An introductory tutorial called the <a href="http://xins.sourceforge.net/primers/primer.html">XINS Primer</a> takes the reader by the hand with easy-to-follow steps to perform, with screenshots.
</p><p>Since version 1.3.0, the XINS/Java Server Framework supports not only POX-style calls, but also <a href="/facts/SOAP/99DbjMR5">SOAP</a> and <a href="/facts/XML-RPC/UleaeVRo">XML-RPC</a>. And it supports conversion using <a href="/facts/XSL_Transformations/0gw4WVyJ">XSLT</a>. As of version 2.0, it also supports <a href="/facts/JSON/bs1rUAhd">JSON</a> and <a href="/facts/JSON-RPC/v2yyqEob">JSON-RPC</a>.
</p><p>XINS is open-source and is distributed under the liberal <a href="/facts/BSD_license/XLtmLp5x">BSD license</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a>
</p>
<h2 id="specifications">Specifications</h2>
<p>All XINS specification files are <a href="/facts/Plain_Old_XML/oeDbclsl">Plain Old XML</a>. Compared to <a href="/facts/SOAP/99DbjMR5">SOAP</a>/<a href="/facts/Web_Services_Description_Language/tQPIot4A">WSDL</a>/<a href="/facts/UDDI/I59oVM1h">UDDI</a>/etc. the format is extremely simple. There are specifications for projects, environment lists, APIs, functions, types and error codes.
</p><p>Below is an example of a XINS project definition.
</p>
<project name="MyProject" domain="com.mycompany">
  <api name="MyAPI">
    <impl/>
    <environments/>
  </api>
</project>

<p>Here is an example of a specification of an environment list:
</p>
<environments>
  <environment id="netarray" url="http://xins.users.mcs2.netarray.com/myproject/xins/"/>
</environments>

<p>An example of an API specification file:
</p>
<api name="MyAPI">
  <description>My first XINS API</description>
  <function name="Hello"/>
</api>

<p>An example of a function definition:
</p>
<function name="Hello">
  <description>Greets the indicated person.</description>
  <input>
    <param name="name" required="true">
      <description>The name of the person to be greeted.</description>
    </param>
  </input>
  <output>
    <param name="greeting" required="true">
      <description>The constructed greeting.</description>
    </param>
  </output>
</function>

<h2 id="rpc-protocol">RPC protocol</h2>
<p>The <i>XINS Standard Calling Convention</i> is a simple HTTP-based RPC protocol. Input consists of HTTP parameters, while output is an XML document. This approach makes it compatible with plain <a href="/facts/Web_browsers/2pfyymLs">Web browsers</a>.
</p><p>Example of a request:
</p>
<a href="http://somehost/someapi/?_convention=_xins-std&_function=SayHello&firstName=John&lastName=Doe">http://somehost/someapi/?_convention=_xins-std&_function=SayHello&firstName=John&lastName=Doe</a>[<i>permanent dead link</i>]

<p>Example of a successful response:
</p>
<result>
   <param name="greeting">Hello John Doe!</param>
</result>

<h2 id="competition">Competition</h2>
<p>There are no known products that provide an integrated approach to specification-oriented development, similar to XINS. However, there are several frameworks and libraries that provide functionality similar to individual parts of XINS, including:
</p>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/JWSDP/eXopc0BS">JWSDP</a>: Collection of various <a href="/facts/XML/clNgUfWk">XML</a> and <a href="/facts/SOAP/99DbjMR5">SOAP</a> technologies for the <a href="/facts/Java_(programming_language)/9ScgFyAL">Java programming language</a>.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Apache_Axis/D3qrsLtL">Apache Axis</a>: <a href="/facts/Java_(programming_language)/9ScgFyAL">Java</a>-based framework for SOAP implementations.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Codehaus_XFire/wk5DJ8rP">Codehaus XFire</a>: Idem.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Hessian_Web_Service_Protocol/3VG0oYmt">Hessian Web Service Protocol</a>: Binary alternative to the XINS Standard Calling Convention.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://xins.sourceforge.net/">XINS website</a></li>
<li><a href="http://xins.sourceforge.net/faq.html">Frequently Asked Questions</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"XINS (XML Interface for Network Services)". Digital Hobbit. November 15, 2005. Retrieved 2025-04-11. <a href="https://legacy.digitalhobbit.com/2005/11/15/xins-xml-interface-for-network-services/" target="_blank">https://legacy.digitalhobbit.com/2005/11/15/xins-xml-interface-for-network-services/</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>"XML API". Nokia Documentation Centre. <a href="https://documentation.nokia.com/nsp/24-4/XML_API_Developer_Guide/ai8g9djcza.html" target="_blank">https://documentation.nokia.com/nsp/24-4/XML_API_Developer_Guide/ai8g9djcza.html</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"XINS : XML Interface for Network Services". Bact' is a name. November 6, 2004. <a href="https://bact.cc/2004/xins-xml-interface-for-network-services/" target="_blank">https://bact.cc/2004/xins-xml-interface-for-network-services/</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

XML Interface for Network Services open-in-new

XML Interface for Network Services