A web service is a system that provides some functionality, such as data retrieval or manipulation, over the web.
Most web servers expose their functionality via an API in a common format to enhance interoperability. Two commonly-used formats are:
- SOAP requests are encoded using XML and packaged into a SOAP-specific format.
- REST requests are made using specific HTTP methods (usually GET, POST, PUT, PATCH and DELETE) to pass JSON-encoded data.
Both SOAP and REST APIs can be called using Web Service Resources.
You can also interact with the web services programmatically, using the Verj.io JavaScript API REST Service. This option, whilst more involved, gives you a greater degree of control over your requests.