Building Web Services Source Code

Basically, I thinking that we can make the examples that come with the book a really key part of the value that we deliver. Here are some things that we can do:
  1. Build a framework within which all examples can live.
    I've taken a crack at this.
  2. Build an application around the examples to ease navigation and learning
    I've taken a crack at this, too.
  3. Make the examples look and feel similar.
    We should all work towards this.
So, while I have most of the things in place up to a point where we can use the screenshots, I think the plumbing can be improved. I have a vision that we can make all examples be driven off of a simple XML "descriptor" for the example apps, something along the lines of:

<book title=...> <chapter title=...> <example title=...> <description>...</description> <resource [id=...|href=...] type="jws|java|xml|other" file="..."> Resource description goes here </resource> ... </example> ... </chapter> ... </book> Once we have this, we can activate the [ source ] link on the examples navigation bar. It will take readers to an auto-generated page that will list all important files that are being used by this example, e.g.,

Example 5 uses the following resources: All we need on top of this is to plug in opensource colorized Java and XML pretty printers.

It seems like a great thing to do while the book is getting polished. We can leave the competition in the dust and make our examples shine. There will be a buzz on Amazon. Let your imagination soar...