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WSDL architecture

This article explains the architecture of a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) file.

The WSDL files are written in Extensible Markup Language (XML). To learn more about XML, see Web services: Resources for learning.

The following is the structure of the information in a WSDL file:Anatomy of a WSDL file

A WSDL file contains the following parts:

A WSDL file describes a Web service with the following elements:

portType

The description of the operations and associated messages. The portType element defines abstract operations.

<portType name="EightBall">
	<operation name="getAnswer">
		<input message="ebs:IngetAnswerRequest"/>
		<output message="ebs:OutgetAnswerResponse"/>
	</operation>
</portType>

message

The description of input and output parameters and return values.

<message name="IngetAnswerRequest">
	<part name="meth1_inType" type="ebs:questionType"/>
</message>
<message name="OutgetAnswerResponse">
	<part name="meth1_outType" type="ebs:answerType"/>
</message>
		

types

The schema for describing XML types used in the messages.

<types>
	<xsd:schema targetNamespace="...">
		<xsd:complexType name="questionType">
			<xsd:element name="question" type="string"/>
		</xsd:complexType>
		<xsd:complexType name="answerType">
		...
</types>

binding

The bindings describe the protocol that is used to access a portType, as well as the data formats for the messages that are defined by a particular portType element.

<binding name="EightBallBinding" type="ebs:EightBall">
	<soap:binding style="rpc" transport="schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http">
	<operation name="ebs:getAnswer">
	<soap:operation soapAction="urn:EightBall"/>
		<input>
			<soap:body namespace="urn:EightBall" ... />
		...

The services and ports define the location of the Web service.

Service

The service contains the Web service name and a list of ports.

Ports

The ports contain the location of the Web service and the binding used for service access.
<service name="EightBall">
	<port binding="ebs:EightBallBinding" name="EightBallPort">
		<soap:address location="localhost:8080/axis/EightBall"/>
	</port>
</service>
	



Related concepts
WSDL
Related tasks
Developing a WSDL file for JAX-RPC applications
Making deployed Web services application available to clients
Related reference
WSDL architecture
Reference topic    

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Last updated: Mar 8, 2007 8:14:28 PM CST
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