What is 'Web
Services'?
Web Services expose methods that a client can use to read
information from another application within their own applications and in which the client can manipulate in any way that suits
them the best. It can be used to perform any kind of task
without allowing a client access to the provider's underlying
code. Think of a web service as just another procedure which is
only accessible remotely and which have methods which you can
access to perform any kind of task. Web services methods convert
the information to a normal XML document which have many
advantages over older technologies. It works over all platforms and developers can use their program language of their choice.
In related to InfoCountry we could refer to web services
as: "Information sharing", this is; we host the
information and anyone can use it on their own applications.
What web services does InfoCountry
provide?
InfoCountry provide information about business detail via the
web service. This means that people can retrieve information
about business detail on their local applications and use it in
the way that suits them the best. Furthermore it also provide
information related to JBNet and the town Supervisors.
What advantages do the service
provide?
By using the service effectively a business or client can keep
updated to changes within other business detail. Clients can
compare prices, keep informed about events, news, specials
without calling the business direct and they can do so as many
times as they want and their is no 'channels to follow' in receiving the
information. Other advantages is that clients now have all the
contacts numbers, physical location, pay options, business
hours, email and web link information about a business without
memorized a lot of detail, instead they now only have to
memorized the business one reference number (JBNumber) to have
access to all these information automatically!
Who can use this service?
Anyone which require information about a business can use this
service. But, unfortunately this person must be able (or must
use someone) to write an application on their side in order for the
web service to be available for them. This however have the
advantage that this person can customized this/her application
in the way that suits them him/her the best. If someone would
like to use the web service they must register for the service.
The main reason for registration is to prevent people from
misusing
the service, but anyone (and not businesses alone) is welcome to
register. We are NOT concerned about a person political status
or position in order to use the service, for this is a public
service and therefore available for anyone as long as they agrees to the policies and terms and
conditions of this web site. NOTE: For test purposes you can
access the service and try to established a connection to the
web service before you whishes to registered. This allows you to
complete your application and to test it before registering for
the service. How to do this is explained at the following link: [Developers
code - Test].
What is the procedure to get
registered?
The simplest way to get registered is to email your detail to
us. Copy and Paste the Registration
detail detail in your email application and complete
all relevant information. Email it to our
support section. You will receive a email back with a
username and password that you must use in your application to
access the web services. For more detail and support you can
contact the InfoCountry support section or your local
Supervisor if you wish.
How do I set-up the service?
The steps to follow and the exposed methods is explained at the [Developers
code] section. In short; you simple make a reference to our
service within your application and then used the exposed method
to pass the required parameters to our web service. The web service
will then respond with the relevant information. Before you use the response message it is requested that
you first check the IsValid return value of the method to
determine that you received the correct information. See
section C of the [Developers
code] section for more detail.
What type of messages can I sent?
InfoCountry contains a rich set of commands that you can use
to retrieve information related to business contents. You also
can access information about the Supervisors and JBNet. For a
complete list of available commands check the SMS
service section. Check also the
Sample code
section for examples in how to use these messages. Note: The SMSInfo
method provided by the web service is all related to short
message and will return a one string containing the result of
the request message. You must make a new request for each
message that you would like have information about.
| |
| Related links: |
| - |
Web service page: http://www.infocountry.co.za/za/default/webservice/SMSService.asmx |
| - |
The complete list of messages that can be
sent by the web service: SMS
Service |
| - |
For support and contact detail view the
JBNetInfo page: JBNet
- about us |
|
|
|
All the
messages is based on the JBNumber reference and different
business information can be access by replacing one JBNumber
with another business JBNumber.
The web service use South Africa as the selected country.
The 'za' reference used within the messages refers to the international two characters standard for South Africa.
Only information from South Africa is available on InfoCountry databases, but the
service is internationally available. |
|
/SMS%20Instructions/IClogo_12.gif){kind=small}
/SMS%20Instructions/nav_next.gif){kind=small}
/SMS%20Instructions/closeWindow.gif){kind=small}