Stateless server-side automation of web service requests using dynamically generated web service interfaces

1. A method for processing a batch request through a web service on a server, the method comprising:

processing a batch request from a client through the web service, the batch request including a plurality of sub-requests that each specify an operation to be performed by the web service, the processing including performing the operation specified by each of the plurality of sub-requests and generating a corresponding plurality of sub-replies, wherein a first sub-request of the plurality of sub-requests includes a storage attribute indicating that result data of processing the first sub-request should be stored in a temporary buffer, and wherein a second sub-request of the plurality of sub-requests includes an input attribute indicating that the result data should be used as input to the second sub-request;

creating the temporary buffer on the server;

storing the result data of processing the first sub-request in the temporary buffer on the server;

transforming the result data in the temporary buffer on the server into a form suitable for input to the second sub-request, wherein transforming the result data retrieved from the temporary buffer on the server into a form suitable for input to the second sub-request includes transforming the result data using an XSLT transformation;

retrieving the transformed result data stored in the temporary buffer on the server;

passing the transformed result data as input to the second sub-request when processing the second sub-request to generate a second sub-reply, the second sub-reply corresponding to the processing of the second sub-request;

constructing a batch reply including the plurality of sub-replies;

providing the batch reply to the client; and

clearing the temporary buffer of the result data when the batch reply is returned to the client to ensure that state is maintained on a per request basis.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the XSLT transformation is stored in a XSLT library on the server.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the XSLT transformation is passed along with the second sub-request to the server.

4. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program product for processing a batch request through a web service on a server, the program product comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

process a batch request from a client through the web service, the batch request including a plurality of sub-requests that each specifies an operation to be performed by the web service, the instructions to process further including instructions to perform the operation specified by each of the plurality of sub-requests and generate a corresponding plurality of sub-replies, wherein a first sub-request of the plurality of sub-requests includes a storage attribute indicating that result data of processing the first sub-request should be stored in a temporary buffer, and wherein a second sub-request of the plurality of sub-requests includes an input attribute indicating that the result data should be used as input to the second sub-request;

create the temporary buffer on the server;

store the result data of processing the first sub-request in the temporary buffer on the server;

transform the result data in the temporary buffer into a form suitable for input to the second sub-request, wherein the instructions to transform the result data retrieved from the temporary buffer on the server into a form suitable for input to the second sub-request include instructions to transform the result data using an XSLT transformation;

retrieve the transformed result data stored in the temporary buffer on the server;

pass the transformed result data as input to the second sub-request when processing the second sub-request to generate a second sub-reply, the second sub-reply corresponding to the processing of the second sub-request;

construct a batch reply including the plurality of sub-replies;

provide the batch reply to the client; and

clear the temporary buffer of the result data when the batch reply is returned to the client to ensure that state is maintained on a per request basis.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 4 , wherein the XSLT transformation is stored in a XSLT library on the server.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 4 , wherein the XSLT transformation is passed along with the second sub-request to the server.

7. A system comprising:

a server computing system configured to provide a web service;

a client to generate a batch request, the batch request including a plurality of sub-requests that each specifies an operation to be performed by the web service, wherein a first sub-request of the plurality of sub-requests includes a storage attribute indicating that result data of processing the first sub-request should be stored in a temporary buffer, and wherein a second sub-request of the plurality of sub-requests includes an input attribute indicating that the result data should be used as input to the second sub-request; and

the web service configured to receive the batch request from the client and process the batch request through the web service including performing the operation specified by each of the plurality of sub-requests and generating a corresponding plurality of sub-replies, the web service further configured to:

create the temporary buffer on the server,

store the result data of processing the first sub-request in the temporary buffer on the server,

transform using an XSLT transformation the result data in the temporary buffer into a form suitable for input to the second sub-request,

retrieve the transformed result data stored in the temporary buffer on the server;

pass the transformed result data as input to the second sub-request when processing the second sub-request to generate a second sub-reply, the second sub-reply corresponding to the processing of the second sub-request,

construct a batch reply including the plurality of sub-replies,

return the batch reply to the client, and

clear the temporary buffer of the result data when the batch reply is returned to the client to ensure that state is maintained on a per request basis.