Web service interface for mobile agents

1. A method comprising:

receiving, with a tool of a computing device, data comprising an agent interface file, a uniform resource locator (URL) identifying a name and an initial execution environment of a mobile agent, and a name of a web service;

generating a web service definition language (WSDL) file which specifies an interface to use when developing clients for the web service, wherein the WSDL file is generated by translating the agent interface file into WSDL;

generating, with the tool of the computing device, a web service interface based on the data, wherein the mobile agent is configured to be moved to different execution environments and to carry an execution state of the mobile agent to the different execution environments; and

configuring the web service interface, at least in part, to enable a location of the mobile agent to be identified and for requests to be delegated from the web service to the mobile agent.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating one or more archive files that are deployed to a web services container within a hosting web server.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more archive files contain a generated implementation of the web service which locates and delegates requests to the mobile agent.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating an interface that is implemented by the mobile agent.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein generating the interface that is implemented by the mobile agent includes generating the interface as configured to enable the web service to proxy requests to and responses from the mobile agent.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a web service proxy.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the web service proxy is configured to communicate directly with the mobile agent.

8. A system comprising:

a computing device that includes a processor and an execution environment, wherein the processor is configured to:

receive data comprising an agent interface file, a uniform resource locator (URL) identifying a name and an initial execution environment of a mobile agent, and a name of a web service;

generate a web service definition language (WSDL) file which specifies an interface to use when developing clients for the web service, wherein the WSDL file is generated by translating the agent interface file into WSDL; and

generate a web service interface based on the data and

a web server residing in the execution environment, wherein the web server comprises the web service that is executed by the processor and configured to:

receive a request from a web service client; and

enable the mobile agent to handle the request, wherein the mobile agent is configured to be moved to different execution environments and to carry an execution state of the mobile agent to the different execution environments, wherein the web service includes the web service interface that is configured, at least in part, to enable a location of the mobile agent to be identified and delegation of the request from the web service to the mobile agent.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the web service is further configured to locate an associated mobile agent through the use of a name server.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the web service is further configured to proxy the request to the mobile agent in a protocol compliant with an interface of the mobile agent.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the web service is further configured to receive a response to the request from the mobile agent, wherein the response includes a result of the request.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the web service is further configured to map a constructed response to a response document and to send the response to the web service client.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the web service is further configured to map parameters from a request document.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon, computer executable instructions, the computer executable instructions comprising:

instructions to receive data comprising at least one of an agent interface file, a uniform resource locator (URL) identifying a name and an initial execution environment for a mobile agent, and a name of a web service;

instructions to generate a web service definition language (WSDL) file which specifies an interface to use when developing clients for the web service, wherein the WSDL file is generated by translating the agent interface file into WSDL; and

instructions to receive a request to generate a web service interface based on the data, wherein the web service interface is configured, at least in part, to enable a location of the mobile agent to be identified, wherein the mobile agent is configured to be moved to different execution environments and to carry an execution state of the mobile agent to the different execution environments, and wherein the web service interface is further configured to enable requests to be delegated from the web service to the mobile agent.