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web-servicesjakarta-eejax-wscxf

Why Apache CXF?

I am a new to Java EE Services. In my project they will be using JAX-WS with Apache CXF. I want to know what is Apache CXF? I can use plain JAX-WS to create Web Services. Why should I use Apache CXF?

Solution

  • Apache CXF is just one of the implementations of JAX-WS API. There are other implementations, such as JAX-WS RI (reference implementation) that is included in Java and part of Metro framework (which includes some other things also, like WSIT).

    Your question is - what are the reasons to choose Apache CXF? There are plenty of them, for example:

    1. support for RESTful services (becoming more and more popular)
    2. easy integration with Spring (if that matters to you)
    3. WS-* support (i.e., support for many important WS-specifications like WS-Security)
    4. maturity (thanks @sourcedelica)

    References: