What's WSDL?

A WSDL document defines services as collections of network endpoints, or ports. In WSDL, the abstract definition of endpoints and messages is separated from their concrete network deployment or data format bindings. This allows the reuse of abstract definitions: messages, which are abstract descriptions of the data being exchanged, and port types which are abstract collections of operations. The concrete protocol and data format specifications for a particular port type constitutes a reusable binding. A port is defined by associating a network address with a reusable binding, and a collection of ports define a service. Hence, a WSDL document uses the following elements in the definition of network services:

• Types– a container for data type definitions using some type system (such as XSD).

  <wsdl:types> ?
        <wsdl:documentation .... />?
        <xsd:schema .... />*
        <-- extensibility element --> *
    </wsdl:types

• Message– an abstract, typed definition of the data being communicated.

    <wsdl:message name="nmtoken"> *
        <wsdl:documentation .... />?
        <part name="nmtoken" element="qname"? type="qname"?/> *
    </wsdl:message>

• Operation– an abstract description of an action supported by the service.
• Port Type–an abstract set of operations supported by one or more endpoints.--Operation

  <wsdl:portType name="nmtoken">*
        <wsdl:documentation .... />?
        <wsdl:operation name="nmtoken">*
           <wsdl:documentation .... /> ?
           <wsdl:input name="nmtoken"? message="qname">?
               <wsdl:documentation .... /> ?
           </wsdl:input>
           <wsdl:output name="nmtoken"? message="qname">?
               <wsdl:documentation .... /> ?
           </wsdl:output>
           <wsdl:fault name="nmtoken" message="qname"> *
               <wsdl:documentation .... /> ?
           </wsdl:fault>
        </wsdl:operation>
    </wsdl:portType>

• Binding– a concrete protocol and data format specification for a particular port type.

 <wsdl:binding name="nmtoken" type="qname">*
        <wsdl:documentation .... />?
        <-- extensibility element --> *
        <wsdl:operation name="nmtoken">*
           <wsdl:documentation .... /> ?
           <-- extensibility element --> *
           <wsdl:input> ?
               <wsdl:documentation .... /> ?
               <-- extensibility element -->
           </wsdl:input>
           <wsdl:output> ?
               <wsdl:documentation .... /> ?
               <-- extensibility element --> *
           </wsdl:output>
           <wsdl:fault name="nmtoken"> *
               <wsdl:documentation .... /> ?
               <-- extensibility element --> *
           </wsdl:fault>
        </wsdl:operation>
    </wsdl:binding>

• Port– a single endpoint defined as a combination of a binding and a network address.

  <wsdl:port name="nmtoken" binding="qname"> *
           <wsdl:documentation .... /> ?
           <-- extensibility element -->
  </wsdl:port>

• Service– a collection of related endpoints-- 

•     <wsdl:service name="nmtoken"> *
          <wsdl:documentation .... />?
          <wsdl:port name="nmtoken" binding="qname"> *
             <wsdl:documentation .... /> ?
             <-- extensibility element -->
          </wsdl:port>
          <-- extensibility element -->
      </wsdl:service>

Example 1 SOAP 1.1 Request/Response via HTTP

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<definitions name="StockQuote"

targetNamespace="http://example.com/stockquote.wsdl"
          xmlns:tns="http://example.com/stockquote.wsdl"
          xmlns:xsd1="http://example.com/stockquote.xsd"
          xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap/"
          xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/">

    <types>
       <schema targetNamespace="http://example.com/stockquote.xsd"
              xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/10/XMLSchema">
           <element name="TradePriceRequest">
              <complexType>
                  <all>
                      <element name="tickerSymbol" type="string"/>
                  </all>
              </complexType>
           </element>
           <element name="TradePrice">
              <complexType>
                  <all>
                      <element name="price" type="float"/>
                  </all>
              </complexType>
           </element>
       </schema>
    </types>

    <message name="GetLastTradePriceInput">
        <part name="body" element="xsd1:TradePriceRequest"/>
    </message>

    <message name="GetLastTradePriceOutput">
        <part name="body" element="xsd1:TradePrice"/>
    </message>

    <portType name="StockQuotePortType">
        <operation name="GetLastTradePrice">
           <input message="tns:GetLastTradePriceInput"/>
           <output message="tns:GetLastTradePriceOutput"/>
        </operation>
    </portType>

    <binding name="StockQuoteSoapBinding" type="tns:StockQuotePortType">
        <soap:binding style="document" transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http"/>
        <operation name="GetLastTradePrice">
           <soap:operation soapAction="http://example.com/GetLastTradePrice"/>
           <input>
               <soap:body use="literal"/>
           </input>
           <output>
               <soap:body use="literal"/>
           </output>
        </operation>
    </binding>

    <service name="StockQuoteService">
        <documentation>My first service</documentation>
        <port name="StockQuotePort" binding="tns:StockQuoteBinding">
           <soap:address location="http://example.com/stockquote"/>
        </port>
    </service>

</definitions>

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