About working with data source specific APIs
Geographic information system (GIS) services provided by ESRI products can be utilized by server developers via the appropriate application programming interface (API). Each type of GIS service defines a different API by which it can be consumed.
The Web Application Developer Framework (ADF) runtime includes the necessary components to work with services (data sources) provided by ArcGIS Server via ArcObjects (local) or Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP [Internet]) and ArcIMS. Each data source type can be utilized by a specific API.
As a result, from the Web ADF perspective, these APIs are called "data source specific APIs." For ArcGIS Server and ArcIMS data sources, the Web ADF Common Data Source API implementation uses the API specific to the data source. When compared to common API implementation classes in the Web ADF (for example, IGISDataSource, IGISResource, and IGISFunctionality), a data source specific API provides more fine-grained access to service capabilities.
The Web ADF consolidates the use of data source specific APIs to integrate capabilities and results in a single developer environment. The common API implementations of supported data sources are designed explicitly for the Web ADF to take advantage of common functionality in a single generic framework. The common API implementations are built on data source specific APIs, which can be used separate from the Web ADF. For example, the Web ADF runtime includes the ArcObjects primary interop assemblies and Component Object Model (COM) proxies necessary to work with ArcObjects remotely, on the GIS server. Developers with the Web ADF installed can choose to work with the ArcObjects directly (via ArcGIS Server) instead of the Web ADF controls.
The Web ADF consolidates the use of data source specific APIs to integrate capabilities and results in a single developer environment. The common API implementations of supported data sources are designed explicitly for the Web ADF to take advantage of common functionality in a single generic framework. The common API implementations are built on data source specific APIs, which can be used separate from the Web ADF. For example, the Web ADF runtime includes the ArcObjects primary interop assemblies and Component Object Model (COM) proxies necessary to work with ArcObjects remotely, on the GIS server. Developers with the Web ADF installed can choose to work with the ArcObjects directly (via ArcGIS Server) instead of the Web ADF controls.
The following table shows data source specific APIs included with the Web ADF:
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APIs included with the Web ADF
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Description
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Includes the SOAP proxies and value objects used to work with ArcGIS Server services via a Web service or locally (local area network [LAN]). It is designed to work with ArcGIS Server services in a stateless manner via SOAP over Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM).
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Utilizes the ArcObjects primary interop assemblies and COM proxies on the client to work with ArcObjects remotely on the GIS Server. It is only available for ArcGIS Server services accessed locally (LAN) and is designed for stateless and stateful interaction.
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Provides a framework for interacting with ArcIMS image and ArcMap services via Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or HTTP. It manages the serialization and deserialization of ArcXML.
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