Java and XML

Chapter 10. XML-RPC

We now take a look at yet another exciting development associated with XML: XML-RPC. XML-RPC is actually just a specific flavor of RPC, which stands for Remote Procedure Calls. If you are new to development, or have only worked with the Java language, remote procedure calls may be new ground for you; if you’ve been around the block in the development world, you may be a bit rusty, as RPC has fallen out of vogue in recent years. In this chapter we look at why those three little letters in front of RPC are revolutionizing what was becoming a computing dinosaur, and how to use XML-RPC from the world of Java. We also spend some time at the end of this chapter looking at real-world applications of XML-RPC, trying to shed some light not only on how to use this technology, but when to use it.

If you are part of the tidal wave of object-oriented development that has come along in the past three to five years, even hearing the word “procedure” may send shivers running down your back. Procedural languages such as PL/SQL and ANSI C are not popular, for a long list of very good reasons. You have probably been scolded for calling a Java method a function or procedure before, and almost certainly know better than to write “spaghetti code,” code that has method after method chained together in a long line. RPC has fallen by the wayside much as these languages and techniques have, because of the new, object-oriented ways of achieving the same results, often with better design ...