An XML model for use across heterogeneous client-server applications

Applications that use directory services or relational databases operate in a client-server model where a client request information from a server, and the server returns a response to the client. These client-server applications typically have a message protocol that is unique to that application. Systems with multiple client-server applications require that there are separate client-server programs that communicate individually with their respective server programs. A need exist to access information from heterogeneous systems in a standard message request-response format. The objective of this paper is to describe an XML model that abstracts the differences in underlying client-server message formats and provides a common XML message interface. The XML messages are parsed through a common XML gateway that decides which application server forward to which message. The generic XML messages are translated to the correct application server format before being sent to the application server.