Jakarta XML Web Services

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Jakarta XML Web Services (JAX-WS) is a Jakarta EE API for building SOAP-based web services and clients in Java. It was formerly known as the Java API for XML Web Services. The project is maintained by the Eclipse Foundation, and the latest stable release is 2.3.3 (released February 19, 2020). JAX-WS is written in Java and works on multiple platforms under the EPL 2.0 or GPL v2 with the Classpath exception.

What it does
- JAX-WS defines how Java methods map to SOAP operations through the JAX-WS 2.2 specification (JSR 224). This Java-to-WSDL binding decides which Java method is called, how parameters are passed, and how return values become SOAP responses.
- It uses annotations introduced in Java SE 5 to simplify creating and deploying web service clients and endpoints. It is part of the Java Web Services Development Pack and can be used with Java SE starting from version 6; JAX-WS was removed from Java SE 11 (see JEP 320).
- JAX-WS replaced the older JAX-RPC API in Java EE 5 and is a core part of Eclipse Metro, as well as a foundation of WSIT (Web Services Interoperability Technology).

Jakarta Web Services Metadata
- Also included with JAX-WS, Jakarta Web Services Metadata (JWS; formerly Web Services Metadata for Java) standardizes the development of web service interfaces for Jakarta EE (JSR 181). JWS version 2.1 was released on December 15, 2009.