which type of web services can a Android App talk to?

Question

I was reading that SOAP is really not for Android. Rather Android prefers REST web services. So my question is, are there any other kinds of restrictions ? For example, some web services are built with JAXB. Is that ok for Android apps ? I other words, does it matter how the REST web service is built ?

What if the web service returns data in XML format, is that ok with Android ?

Answer 1

There is no restriction with REST web services on Android. Yes android can handle xml. You can get detail knowledge and help by going through GAE (Google app Engine). Find the link below:

https://developers.google.com/appengine/docs/

Answer 2

It does not matter what kind of Webservice you are communicating with. You communicate using HTTP protocol. If you use SOAP then you can parse your xml at client side.

Also there are many SOAP clients already available so you dont have to do much work.

Check this - http://code.google.com/p/ksoap2-android/

Answer 3

Android does not provide a built in SOAP client, there are many third party libraries that can be used to call a SOAP web service with native android APIs.

Where as REST is so simple & can be used directly without any third party libraries.