REST-based bridge connects Java and .NET

Microsoft and Noelios Technologies, a French provider of web technologies, have developed an interface which is based on the REST (Representational State Transfer) architecture and is designed to provide Java developers with easy access to .NET data. Introduced as Restlet Extension for ADO.NET Services, the bridge is part of Noelios' free Restlet framework.

The Restlet extension supports a client-side API which allows the framework to remotely access the data services provided, for example, by ASP.NET servers on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform. Java developers can use the extension's code generator to create Java classes that communicate with the data units provided by the ADO.NET Data Services framework. This is designed to enable Java applications to access the data via a simple method.

Only recently, Microsoft's "Developer and Platform Evangelism Interoperability" team launched a similar project called "PHP Toolkit for ADO .NET Data Services" to create a bridge between the PHP web programming language and Microsoft's ADO.NET Data Services. Other projects that focus on .NET and Java interoperability include Apache Stonehenge, the Azure Java SDK for .NET Services and the Eclipse tools for Silverlight.

The ADO.NET Data Services (codename "Astoria") consist of a library and a collection of tools for reading and modifying a quantity of data. The toolkit is included in .NET 3.5 Service Pack 1. The ADO.NET Data Services are fully supported by the current Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and will also be supported by the forthcoming version, Visual Studio 2010.

The REST approach to developing web applications has gained increasing popularity especially in recent years. It provides every resource with a URL that can be accessed via HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT and DELETE.

(crve)