Eclipse Web Tools Platform 1.5 - New and Noteworthy

Web Services
New look for Web services wizards
The Web Service wizard and Web Service Client wizard have a new look. The first page of these wizards now combines the first three pages of the same wizards in WTP 1.0.

On this first page of the wizard, the user can:

Use the drop down combo to select the type of Web service to create.

Use the Browse button to browse for the service implementation or service definition.

Move the service and client scales on the right-hand side to select whether to develop, assemble, deploy, install, start and test the Web service and Web service client.

Obtain a summary of the Server, Web service runtime, project and EAR that will be used for both service and client side.

Click on the Server, Web service runtime, project or EAR hyper-links to modify the respective settings.

Axis 1.3 support
The Axis emitters and JARs used by the Web Services wizards are now based on Axis 1.3.

Axis emitter preference page
A new Axis emitter preference has been added to control Axis emitter settings for Wsdl2Java and Java2Wsdl. This include setting timeout and analysing the service class for compliance to JAX-RPC.

Skeleton merge
A new checkbox is added to the Web services Resource preference to enable the user to turn on skeleton merge. When creating top-down Web service with this preference enabled, the newly generated skeleton implementation file will be merged with the existing implementation files if they exist. This enables the user to preserve user-modified code between different invocation of the Web Services wizards.

Enhancements in Web Services Explorer
When users click the Browse button in the WSDL page, they can now select different categories of WSDL documents to display:

All

Favorites

Apache Axis Components

WorkspaceWSDL documents

Other enhancements in the Web Services Explorer include:

Support for nillables and attributes in the schemas of the WSDL documents.

Login support in UDDI page.

Web Services Ant tasks
Starting in WTP 1.0, users can create bottom-up Web service, top-down Web service and Web service client using Ant tasks. Refer to the Web Service Ant Tasks tutorial for instructions on how to use the Ant tasks.

WSDL Editing Tools
Simplified Design View
For WTP 1.5, the Design View has been simplified. It has been restructured to de-emphasize Bindings and Messages and to emphasize Operations and Elements/Types.

De-Emphasizing Bindings

Binding information in the Design View has been reworked. They have been de-emphasized because they are expert objects that many users maintain via the Binding generator. By default, the Binding is collapsed and is seen as a single icon.

Users can expand them (by double clicking on them) and they will show up as a ruler next to it's associated PortType. See below:

To edit the Binding, users would click on the Binding object they wish to edit and a corresponding Property Sheet will appear. For example, if the user clicks on a Binding Operation, the Extensions Tab can be used to edit the detailed information for the Binding object. See the Extensions section below for more information.

Navigation
The editor has hyperlink support in the source view. Hold down the Ctrl key and move the mouse pointer over some reference (ie. reference to some other PortType), and a link appears. If you mouse click on the link, context changes to that reference.

Extensions
You can provide specialized extension information to your WSDLs via the extensions tab of the Properties View. Use the 'Add..' button to choose from categories of available extensions. Then use the Tree View and the details view to edit the extension information.

XML Schema Integration
In WTP 1.0, XML Schema content was viewed and edited by 'drilling into' the schema object. The XML Schema Editor would then appear within the WSDL Editor. In WTP 1.5, the XML Schema Editor will no longer appear within the WSDL Editor. Instead, a separate XML Schema Editor will be opened on the desired XML Schema object. To launch the XML Schema Editor, the user clicks on the link icon which appears to the right hand side of each Input/Output/Fault Part. This link icon will only appear if the associated type is not a built-in XML Schema Type. See below:

A new external XML Schema Editor is shown below:

Smart Editing
In practise WSDL documents are authored using a number of different patterns (html :get and put, soap doc-literal, doc-literal wrapped, rpc-encoded etc.). When creating new content via the graphical view the WSDL editor (e.g. when adding an operation) will recognize the authoring pattern and create new content accordingly.

Refactoring
In WTP 1.5, there is inter-file refactoring in addition to pre-existing intra-file refactoring support. This means that if you rename a top level component such as a PortType, any references to it from other WSDLs in the current project or workspace will be updated.

Inter-file refactoring can be done in two ways:

The refactor context menu option for the WSDL object in the Design or Outline view

by clicking on the light bulb icon located beside the "Name" text field in the Properties View of the WSDL object (See Figure below)

If the user simply renames a component without invoking an explicit refactoring the editor behaves just like it did in WTP 1.0. References to renamed components are updated only within the current wsdl file.

Up


Web Services

New look for Web services wizards	The Web Service wizard and Web Service Client wizard have a new look. The first page of these wizards now combines the first three pages of the same wizards in WTP 1.0. On this first page of the wizard, the user can: Use the drop down combo to select the type of Web service to create. Use the Browse button to browse for the service implementation or service definition. Move the service and client scales on the right-hand side to select whether to develop, assemble, deploy, install, start and test the Web service and Web service client. Obtain a summary of the Server, Web service runtime, project and EAR that will be used for both service and client side. Click on the Server, Web service runtime, project or EAR hyper-links to modify the respective settings.

Axis 1.3 support	The Axis emitters and JARs used by the Web Services wizards are now based on Axis 1.3.

Axis emitter preference page	A new Axis emitter preference has been added to control Axis emitter settings for Wsdl2Java and Java2Wsdl. This include setting timeout and analysing the service class for compliance to JAX-RPC.

Skeleton merge	A new checkbox is added to the Web services Resource preference to enable the user to turn on skeleton merge. When creating top-down Web service with this preference enabled, the newly generated skeleton implementation file will be merged with the existing implementation files if they exist. This enables the user to preserve user-modified code between different invocation of the Web Services wizards.

Enhancements in Web Services Explorer	When users click the Browse button in the WSDL page, they can now select different categories of WSDL documents to display: All Favorites Apache Axis Components WorkspaceWSDL documents Other enhancements in the Web Services Explorer include: Support for nillables and attributes in the schemas of the WSDL documents. Login support in UDDI page.

Web Services Ant tasks	Starting in WTP 1.0, users can create bottom-up Web service, top-down Web service and Web service client using Ant tasks. Refer to the Web Service Ant Tasks tutorial for instructions on how to use the Ant tasks.

WSDL Editing Tools

Simplified Design View	For WTP 1.5, the Design View has been simplified. It has been restructured to de-emphasize Bindings and Messages and to emphasize Operations and Elements/Types. De-Emphasizing Bindings Binding information in the Design View has been reworked. They have been de-emphasized because they are expert objects that many users maintain via the Binding generator. By default, the Binding is collapsed and is seen as a single icon. Users can expand them (by double clicking on them) and they will show up as a ruler next to it's associated PortType. See below: To edit the Binding, users would click on the Binding object they wish to edit and a corresponding Property Sheet will appear. For example, if the user clicks on a Binding Operation, the Extensions Tab can be used to edit the detailed information for the Binding object. See the Extensions section below for more information.

Navigation	The editor has hyperlink support in the source view. Hold down the Ctrl key and move the mouse pointer over some reference (ie. reference to some other PortType), and a link appears. If you mouse click on the link, context changes to that reference.

Extensions	You can provide specialized extension information to your WSDLs via the extensions tab of the Properties View. Use the 'Add..' button to choose from categories of available extensions. Then use the Tree View and the details view to edit the extension information.

XML Schema Integration	In WTP 1.0, XML Schema content was viewed and edited by 'drilling into' the schema object. The XML Schema Editor would then appear within the WSDL Editor. In WTP 1.5, the XML Schema Editor will no longer appear within the WSDL Editor. Instead, a separate XML Schema Editor will be opened on the desired XML Schema object. To launch the XML Schema Editor, the user clicks on the link icon which appears to the right hand side of each Input/Output/Fault Part. This link icon will only appear if the associated type is not a built-in XML Schema Type. See below: A new external XML Schema Editor is shown below:

Smart Editing	In practise WSDL documents are authored using a number of different patterns (html :get and put, soap doc-literal, doc-literal wrapped, rpc-encoded etc.). When creating new content via the graphical view the WSDL editor (e.g. when adding an operation) will recognize the authoring pattern and create new content accordingly.

Refactoring	In WTP 1.5, there is inter-file refactoring in addition to pre-existing intra-file refactoring support. This means that if you rename a top level component such as a PortType, any references to it from other WSDLs in the current project or workspace will be updated. Inter-file refactoring can be done in two ways: The refactor context menu option for the WSDL object in the Design or Outline view by clicking on the light bulb icon located beside the "Name" text field in the Properties View of the WSDL object (See Figure below) If the user simply renames a component without invoking an explicit refactoring the editor behaves just like it did in WTP 1.0. References to renamed components are updated only within the current wsdl file.