Web Services

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) defines a Web Service as, "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network. It has an interface described in a machine-processable format (specifically WSDL). Other systems interact with the web service in a manner prescribed by its description using SOAP-messages, typically conveyed using HTTP with an XML serialization in conjunction with other Web-related standards."

Advantages of Web Services include:

• Web Services are able to interact with each other irrespective of the language that they are developed in and hence gives real time Interoperability.
• Web Services use HTTP with XML for communication. These are ubiquitous technologies and any device capable of using these technologies is able to both host and consume Web Services.
• Web Services concepts are simple to understand and with the addition of various tool-kits provide a low barrier to entry and easy software development.
• Industry support by major content providers and vendors ensure that the Web Services model continues to be the standard file communication protocol.

How to use LinkShare Web Services
The Link Locator Direct Web Service is accessible only using SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). Any language supporting SOAP can be used to develop applications. For example, SOAP supports C++, .NET, Java, and Perl languages. Link Locator Direct is an XML data feed that provides affiliates with the ability to access updated promotions and products from merchant partners without having to create links manually by logging into the LinkShare Interface. For more information on Link Locator Direct click here.

LinkShare's Automated LinkGenerator uses a REST (Representational State Transfer) Web services to request links for a given merchant URL. Automated LinkGenerator creates LinkShare affiliate links for any product on a merchant's site that offers Individual Product Links from their Create Links menu. Click here for more on this tool.