Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies Small Seminar on Networking Technology Information Centers UNFCCC secretariat offices Bonn, Germany March 2007

March 2007Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies2 Table of content Web Services implementation General description Methods created Main access page Service description (WSDL) Example: search from a predefined list Search: using a keywords The NuSOAP library Problems encountered during the implementation Response time Increasing number of Centers Technical implementation Ideas for the future Cost/effort estimation for WS implementation for new Centers What could be done to improve the current solution?

Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies Web Service implementation

March 2007Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies4 General description Web Service prototype could be accessed through: Simple interface designed to give a look and feel as that of the CITET’s documentary portal. Simple iframe page was hosted on the CITET’s portal server. All the client-side solution was hosted on a different platform to avoid any code conflict or shutdown incidents. The server hosting the client-side solution is powered by : Linux Redhat EL 4, Core smp MySQL RHE4.1 PHP httpd entApache The SOAP library used to create the Web Service solution is NuSoap

March 2007Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies5 Methods created The CITETdb (CITET database) is about Environment Actors. Six (6) methods can be invoked : GetActorByType : returns a list of Actors by Type GetActorByOrganization : returns the Actor for a specified Organization GetActorByFieldActivity : returns the Actor for a specified Field Activity GetActorBySpeciality : returns the Actor for a specified Speciality GetActorByInstitutionalType : returns the Actor for a specified Institutional Type GetActorByName : returns the Actor for a specified Name The page listing the methods made available for testing was created based on the CEP service page. A WSDL file describes the service, its methods, and the format of inputs and outputs in detail. It can be accessed through the “Service Description” link available on the home page. The methods results are returned and displayed in XML format.

March 2007Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies6 Main access page

March 2007Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies7 Service description (WSDL)

March 2007Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies8 Example: search from a predefined list

March 2007Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies9 Search: using a keywords

March 2007Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies10 The NuSOAP library The NuSOAP library used offer a simple interface to describe all the functions made available through the Web Service. The description of each function includes: function parameters, function input and output, request & response messages, etc.

Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies Problems encountered during the implementation

March 2007Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies12 Response time While implementing the Web Service and testing the Web client using the CITET Web Service and the TTClear’s, some questions raised and were discussed in the CITET Team. The main objective motivating the implementing of Web Services through the Centre’s Network is to share information between them, but also to avoid the storage of the same information within each Centre’s Database. However, if the Web Client implemented within the CITET’s portal gathers information from all the Network Centres, problems may raise in terms of response time. Indeed, a user asking for example for Environment Actors through the Network, make the Web Client used send a request to all the Web Services available within the Network, get their answers, gather them and make a certain aggregation before displaying the final result to the visitor. We think that this process could take a long time, and may cause some web server errors like “execution time out”.

March 2007Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies13 Increasing number of Centers While the number of the Network Centres will be increasing, it may be important to think about the implementation of a Main Server (or Central Server) that would gather central information to facilitate and centralize information about, at least, the content and the information offered by each Centre Web Service. This model could help to get a faster response time to all the Network members. A Main Server solution could also help to get general and statistics information to allow a preparation of recommendation reports and draw the orientations that should be made available for the Networks Centers as strategic information.

March 2007Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies14 Technical implementation The CITET team made the necessary lecture, technical work and effort to implement a Web Service solution. We think that this technical side could be made available by the Network Secretariat to: Offer Less time needed to make implementation Replace the programming process by training sessions (the Web Service solution could then be provided by the Secretariat) Propose different implementation solutions to be able to address different platforms specifications (php, java,.net, etc.)

Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies Ideas for the future

March 2007Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies16 Cost/effort estimation for WS implementation for new Centers Item Estimated Duration Computer purchasing7 days Web Service and Web Client programming and integration45 days Information & data collecting7 days Data exchange with other Network Centres4 days Training session5 days 68 days

March 2007Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies17 What could be done to improve the current solution? Every Centre could take advantage of using the Web Services. Indeed, valuable information may be offered to the visitors of web sites / portals. The current test of Web Service implemented on the CITET’s portal offer information about “Environment Actors” in Tunisia and in the near region. The CITET’s portal is a documentary one. An important amount of information is stored on its databases and could be used for Web Services broadcasting and sharing. The current data used was extracted and prepared manually for prototyping reasons. Therefore, some part of it was altered for incompatibility reasons between platforms. Now that the Web Services techniques are mastered, the CITET team could think about connecting the Web Services directly to all needed data tables existing in the portal database. That will guarantee: data coherence, avoid platform incompatibility problems and offer up to date data in a timely manner. Finally, this new services should be used largely. Therefore, CITET is planning to inform all the visitors of its portal by sending information through its Newsletter and put the XML logo on the main page to let visitors know about all the functions available.

March 2007Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies18 Thank you for your kind attention