WSDL - Web Services Definition Language

WSDL is often used in combination with SOAP and an XML Schema to provide web services over the Internet. A client program connecting to a web service can read the WSDL to determine what operations are available on the server. Any special data types used are embedded in the WSDL file in the form of XML Schema. The client can then use SOAP to actually call one of the operations listed in the WSDL. The WSDL defines services as collections of network endpoints, or ports. The WSDL specification provides an XML format for documents for this purpose. The abstract definitions of ports and messages are separated from their concrete use or instance, allowing the reuse of these definitions. Basically, The Web Services Description Language (WSDL, pronounced 'wiz-del') is an XML-based language that provides a model for describing Web services.

Service/Service: The service can be thought of as a container for a set of system functions that have been exposed to the web based protocols to carry out certain ioerations.

Port/Endpoint: The port does nothing more than defining the address or connection point of a web service. It is typically represented by a simple http url string.

Binding/Binding: Specifies the interface, defines the SOAP binding style (RPC/Document) and transport (SOAP Protocol). The binding section also defines the operations. Bindings can be genrated by the use Visual Studio.

PortType/Interface: The <portType> element, which has been renamed to <interface> in WSDL 2.0, defines a web service, the operations that can be performed, and the messages that are used to perform the operation.

Operation/Operation: Each operation can be compared to a method or function call in a traditional programming language. Here the soap actions are defined and the way the message is encoded for example, "literal."

Message/N.A.: Typically, a message corresponds to an operation. The message contains the information needed to perform the operation. Each message consists of one or more logical parts. Each part is associated with a message-typing attribute. The message name attribute provides a unique name among all messages. The part name attribute provides a unique name among all the parts of the enclosing message. Parts are a description of the logical content of a message. In RPC binding, a binding may reference the name of a part in order to specify binding-specific information about the part. A part may represent a parameter in the message; the bindings define the actual meaning of the part. Messages had been removed in WSDL 2.0, where you simply and directly refer to XML schema types for defining bodies of inputs, outputs and faults.

Types/Types: The purpose of the types in WSDL is to describe the data. XML Schema is used (inline or referenced) for this purpose.

ECA Technologies - Experts in WSDL Technologies Based Applications

The developers at ECA Technologies are Experts in WSDL Technologies and specialize in developing client applications that can connect to a web service and read the WSDL to determine the operations available on the server.
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