Step by Step Explaination

Software download link (you should install them in sequence)

     1) Eclipse, http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/index.php
     - Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers
     - Eclipse IDE for Java Developers

     2) JDK (Java development kit required by Tomcat), http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp

     3) Apache Tomcat 7 , http://tomcat.apache.org/download-70.cgi (Download: Tomcat)
      Download the Tomcat executable, install it to your local drive.
      (Note: Remember to set a password for your Tomcat installation, else you will have a problem access the "Tomcat Web Application Manager".)
      Test if the Tomcat is install properly by running the program Tomcat Monitor.
      A Tomcat notification icon will appears in the taskbar (bottom right corner of the screen).
      Right click the icon, and select "Start Service" to run the Tomcat.
      Open a web-browser and go to the following URL "http://localhost:8080/"
      Localhost is the same as the ip address of your local machine. Port: 8080 is the default port serve by the Tomcat.
      You should see the following Tomcat start up webpage if the tomcat is installed correctly.

     Reference guide to install Tomcat.
     http://roseindia.net/webservices/axis2/apache-axis2-tomcat.shtml

     4) Apache Axis2, http://ws.apache.org/axis2/ (Download: axis2.war)
      Download the & copy the axis2.war file to C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\webapps\
      The \webapps\axis2 folder will be generated if Tomcat is running. This means that the axis2 servlet is installed to tomcat.
      Do not delete the axis2.war file
      Test the axis2 servlet using the browser with the following URL "http://localhost:8080/axis2/", you should see the following screen

     Reference guide to install Axis2 to Tomcat.
     http://codediaries.blogspot.com/2009/02/setting-up-axis2-with-tomcat-6.html

     Here is a link to a SmsService.aar file (a working archive of a sms webservice to help you test your axis environment)
     Copy the SmsService.aar file to "C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\webapps\axis2\WEB-INF\services\"
     Alternative, you can unzip the DoesMagic.zip and copy the folder to the same directory; this is another method to deploy your webservice.
     Go to URL "http://localhost:8080/axis2/services/listServices", you should be able to see the following screen without restarting the server.
    

     The following service can be seen on the browser indicating that the environment is properly setup to host the webservice.

     SmsService

     Service EPR : http://localhost:8080/axis2/services/SmsService

     Service Description : Please Type your service description here

     Service Status : Active
     Available Operations

          - sendSms
          - sendSmsNonQueueTimeout
          - testDelay60sec
          - etc... .

     5) Adobe Flex 3 builder, http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/features/flex_builder/

Other Reference

     http://www.vogella.de/articles/Webservice/article.html

Reading Reference

     Flex Builder 3
     - Adobe Flex 3.0 for Dummies (recommended as your first book for learning flex)
     - Flex 3 : a beginner's guide (good reference)
     - Flex 3 Bible (more detail information inside)
     - Java and Flex Integration Bible (more detail information inside)

1) Go to Apache website & download the apache axis2 Standard Binary Distribution and unzip this axis2 package. .
Copy the axis2 directory to "c:\program files\". (you can copy to anywhere if you want)
There is no need to do any installation; copy will do.

2) Next, you got to tell eclipse where is this axis2 installed. This will tell eclipse where your axis2 is located.
In eclipse, go to the menu Window>Preferences>Web Services>Axis2 Preferences>Axis2 Runtime>Axis2 runtime location: "C:\Program Files\axis2-1.5.3"

1) Go to menu File>>New>>Others...>>Web>>Dynamic Web Project
       Project Name: DoesMagic
       Target runtime: Apache Tomcat v7.0
       Dynamic web module version: 2.5 (do not select 3.0 for this tutorial, it will not work)
       Click finish to create the new webservice project

2) Please ensure the following configuration. Go to the menu Window>Preferences>Web Services>Server and Runtime "
       Server: Tomcat v6.0 Server at localhost (Eclipse supports servers as well but I didn't setup my tomcat in Eclipse, so this leaving this option out is ok)
       Web service runtime: Apache Axis2          (Note: default is pointed to Apache Axis which is not correct in this example. We are using axis2)

       You may also like to set the default server run for your project.
       Right click on your project>Properties>Server> Select "Tomcat v6.0"

1) Right click the new java class file DoesMagic.java>Webservices>Create Webservice
The following folder/directory will be generated for the webservice deployment in axis2.
"project\WebContent\WEB-INF\services\DoesMagic"
What the eclipse has done is that it copies all the axis2 library from the axis program into your project.
Without these import, objects/classes that depends on org.apache.axis2 library will have error.
This includes classes like ServiceLifeCycle and Lifecycle which maybe used in your webservice class.

Please take note that generated webservice directory may not have overwritten the previous/old webservice content.
To ensure that the webservice is the latest version, delete the whole "WebContent" folder before generating the updated webservices.

Another important file is also generated "services.xml" by the eclipse in the process. It is located in "projectNameXXX\WebContent\WEB-INF\services\serviceNameXXX\META-INF\services.xml". This file describe about the webservice interface and is important. Axis2 need this file in order to generate its *.wsdl file. *.wsdl file provides the details (xml format) for developer to interface to this webservice. Developer from various development platform can use this *.wsdl file to automatically generate function/method calls to invoke to this webservice easily. If you are building the webservice project from Ant build, remember to backup this services.xml file and include it in your *.aar package before you deploy as a service in axis2. If you are not using Ant, then you do not need to worry too much.

2) Now that the webservice structure is generated,
we copy the java webservice folder to the Tomcat\axis2.
from:
"project\WebContent\WEB-INF\services\DoesMagic"
to:
"C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\webapps\axis2\WEB-INF\services\DoesMagic"

Take Note!!! For all resource files (example *.properties, *.log) used in a typical Java project (files loaded through the classloader()).
The files are usually store under \project\resource folder to store config, log, or properties.
They should be copied to the service/project root directory as follows,
C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\webapps\axis2\WEB-INF\services\DoesMagic
Common resource file to be accessed by all the services under axis2 (for example log4j.properties),
should be copy to the following axis2 directory,
C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\webapps\axis2\WEB-INF\classes\
This is the directory for axis program. The files has to be store under axis for the file retrieval.


- Alternative, you can archive the webservice project into a *.aar archive file for deployment to Tomcat Axis2 webservice's service directory. The file is like a jar file with a different *.aar extension for axis2 use. Deploymenting project in a single file unit is neater than deploying a project directory.
- Use the build program "Ant" to archive the webservice folder into a *.aar file and copy it to C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\webapps\axis2\WEB-INF\services\. (refer to website for Ant implementation)

6) The advantage of working with webservices is that the methods are self documented. The methods and the type of parameters required for any webservice will be provided. This information or documentation is found in the *.wsdl file.

The *.wsdl file contains all the methods (doBasicStuff) available on this webservice (DoesMagic). It even provides detail on the parameters (message) required by the method (doBasicStuff). The wsdl file though provides the webservice details but the real context of any complex input parameters will not be available. It will not tell you what the webservice is going to do when you call the method with its parameters. Therefore when we provide our webservice, it is necessary to design simple methods with meaningful names. This is the art of doing programming, and it can be abstract. I always have problem with this, and is still learning the art.

This *.wsdl file is important. With this file, your IDE is about to help you generate the methods/functions call available for your use in your client program. You might be using other programming language (for example C#, Visual C++), your own IDE should be able to help you generate the codes for used when coding your client program. This is possible because the *.wsdl contains all the information on how to invoke the webservice.

For example, I wrote the DoesMagic webservice using Java. You may be writing in C# wanting to invoke my webservice. In order for you to start using my webservice, I will need to give you my webservice address. From the address, you can querry the webservice *.wsdl file to learn about what the webservice offers.

The services offered by the webservice is now known. You can invoke directly by typing directly through the browser. Or you can ask your C# IDE to help you auto-generate the method interfaces; given the *.wsdl file. With this interface, your C# program will be able to invoke the webservice as if you are invoking any function call within the C#. In your programming codes, it may seems like calling a typical function, but it is calling a webservice.

1) To see the wsdl info:

From your web browser (Key in the following web address),
"http://localhost:8080/axis2/services/DoesMagic?wsdl"

A short explaination,

"http://localhost:8080/", is the place where your tomcat server is located.

"axis2/", is the axis2 servlet running on the tomcat.

"services/", services directory will contain all the webservices currently running under your axis2.

"DoesMagic", is the webservice in this example.

"DoesMagic?wsdl", is the instruction given to the DoesMagic webservice, to querry about the webservice's methods and other details. The querry will respond back with the details in xml format to tell us more about this webservice (DoesMagic) interface.

2) After the DoesMagic?wsdl querry, you should be able to see the following response. These are the information regarding DoesMagic webservice.

DoesMagic.wsdl

1) To see the services running in the Axis2 servlet:

From web browser (Key in the following web address),
"http://localhost:8080/axis2/services/listServices"

1) To test the webservice DoesMagic created

From web browser (Key in the following for the webservice through http request),
"http://localhost:8080/axis2/services/DoesMagic/doBasicStuff?message=123"

A short explaination,

"http://localhost:8080/", is the place where your tomcat server is located.

"axis2/", is the axis2 servlet running on the tomcat.

"services/", services directory will contain all the webservices currently running under your axis2.

"DoesMagic", is the webservice name.

"doBasicStuff", is a method from the webservice DoesMagic.

"?message=123", is the input parameter required by the doBasicStuff method. The keyword "message" must be the same as what is defined in the webservice.

If the webservice cannot have access to your java project's configuration/resource files, the following message may be return as the webservice result.

This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.
<soapenv:Reason>
     <soapenv:Text xml:lang="en-US">unknown</soapenv:Text>
</soapenv:Reason>

Another example of webservice with multiple parameters:

public class DoesMagic
{
    public String doBasicStuff2(String message, String name)
    {
        return "This is your message: " + message;
    }
}

From web browser (Key in the following for the webservice through http request),
"http://localhost:8080/axis2/services/DoesMagic/doBasicStuff2?message=123&name=Siong Boon"

The parameters pass to the webservice are seperated by the '&' delimiter.

3) Get the flex builder to generate the functions for the access to our DoesMagic webservice.

Under the menu, select Data>Import Webservice (WSDL)...>
and select the flex project src folder, click next.
WSDL URI: "http://localhost:8080/axis2/services/DoesMagic?wsdl"
-The URI is the webservice that we have created earlier, running on tomcat server.
-Choose the service
    Service: "DoesMagic"
    Port: "DoesMagicHttpSoap11Endpoint"
    Operation: tick what ever method to be used by the flex mxml file
    Package: "generated.webservices" (default: where are the *.as files will be generated)
    Main class: "DoesMagic" (default: class name)
-a new folder generated.webservices will be generated with *.as actionscript files. These actionscript object & mthods are generated to allow access to the webservice. The access to these webservice will be as simple as a function call from our flex/actionscript. To the programmer it appear as the function call is executed locally but in fact is accessing the webservice.

Alternative method to invoke the webservice will be to use the dynamic webservice call approach. Methods are manually defined instead of auto generated through *.wsdl file. Here is the example "HomeAutomationRpcClient.java"

Access webservice using Java though RPC call method

There are many ways to access webservice. RPC is one of the methods. A Java example of RPC call is on the right.