Newbie: Best API to connect a zimlet to a remote service

[jodonova]

Hi,
I would like to write a zimlet that talks to a remote service (J2EE/Spring) and am wondering which is the best protocol to use to develop a simple API that the zimlet can use to communicate with this service (Soap/Rest/Ajax?).

The service would require authentication from the zimlet. I am wondering which is the best way to provide this if for example I use a SOAP API. Do I need to write a separate zimlet to login to the remote service? If so, can this login be stored as a cookie using zimlets so that the user doesn't need to keep entering their credentials?

Later I would like to re-use this api for iPhones.

Many thanks ,
Jonathan.

[scotty]

Build a RESTful web service and protect it with OAuth. The zimlet will need to store the consumer, access and request tokens, but it never needs users' usernames and passwords. OAuth can also work for mobile devices and third party web sites.

Look at the flickr and the social zimlets (esp. the twitter support) - both use OAuth and RESTful APIs.

Apps really need to stop asking users for their credentials to access other apps.

[jodonova]

Thanks for that advise scotty - I will check that all out,
Jonathan