RESTful XML Web Services with Ruby on Rails

In order to build a web application which contains xml web services, programmers typically have to develop two separate interfaces to their application. One interface which serves up the web html interface and one that serves up xml web services.

Recently Ruby on Rails introduced a revolutionary new way of developing web applications which cuts this work in half. By simply following the RESTful principles a Rails developer can build an xml web services interface at the same time their web html interface, with no additional effort.

In this presentation we will:

1. Give an overview of the problem: Most web application frameworks don’t give a great solution of how to integrate an XML API. Most of the time there are two separately coded interfaces, one for the web (html) and one for web services (xml).

2. Take a detailed look at the REST protocol, where it comes from, and who is using it for their web services.

3. Give a high level overview of how Rails implements RESTful development in the architecture of their applications.

4. See how easy it is to create a Rails application which provides a web & xml interface to a table of users.

5. Take a look at the future of Internet communication, and see how easily Ruby on Rails can consume resources written using REST principles.