Whis Is WSDL (Web Services Definition Language)?

This section describes what is WSDL (Web Services Definition Language).

WSDL (Web Services Definition Language): An XML based standard designed to describes protocol bindings and message formats of Web services. WSDL is often pronounced as "Whiz-Dull".

A WSDL document is an XML document written in WSDL to describe Web service. Here is a copy of the WSDL document for the demonstration Web service used in previous sections. You can download one yourself by going to http://www.xmethods.net/sd/2001/DemoTemperatureService.wsdl with your Web browser:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<definitions name="TemperatureService" 
 targetNamespace="http://www.xmethods.net/sd/TemperatureService.wsdl"
 xmlns:tns="http://www.xmethods.net/sd/TemperatureService.wsdl"   
 xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
 xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap/" 
 xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/">
 <message name="getTempRequest">
  <part name="zipcode" type="xsd:string"/>
 </message>
 <message name="getTempResponse">
  <part name="return" type="xsd:float"/>
 </message>
 <portType name="TemperaturePortType">
  <operation name="getTemp">
   <input message="tns:getTempRequest"/>
   <output message="tns:getTempResponse"/>
  </operation>
 </portType>
 <binding name="TemperatureBinding" type="tns:TemperaturePortType">
  <soap:binding style="rpc"
   transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http"/>
  <operation name="getTemp">
   <soap:operation soapAction=""/>
   <input>
    <soap:body use="encoded"
     namespace="urn:xmethods-Temperature-Demo"
     encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"/>
   </input>
   <output>
    <soap:body use="encoded"
     namespace="urn:xmethods-Temperature-Demo"
     encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"/>
   </output>
  </operation>
 </binding>
 <service name="TemperatureService">
  <documentation>Returns current temperature in a given U.S. zipcode
  </documentation>
  <port name="TemperaturePort" binding="tns:TemperatureBinding">
   <soap:address
  location="http://services.xmethods.net:80/soap/servlet/rpcrouter"/>
  </port>
 </service>
</definitions>

I cannot read this document well before learning the WSDL specifications. But it seems to be describing precisely how this Web service should be used.

Last update: 2007.

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 Introduction to Web Service

 Introduction to SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)

 SOAP Message Structure

 SOAP Message Transmission and Processing

 SOAP Data Model

 SOAP Encoding

 SOAP RPC Presentation

 SOAP Properties Model

 SOAP Message Exchange Patterns

 SOAP HTTP Binding

 SOAP Perl Implementations

 SOAP PHP Implementations

 SOAP Java Implementations

 Perl SOAP::Lite - SOAP Server-Client Communication Module

 Perl Socket Test Program for HTTP and SOAP

 Perl SOAP::Lite for GetSpeech SOAP 1.1 Web Service

 Perl SOAP::Lite 0.710 for SOAP 1.2 Web Services

 Perl SOAP::Lite 0.710 for WSDL

PHP SOAP Extension Client Programs

 What Is PHP SOAP Extension?

 GetTemp.php - First Example with SOAP

 PHP SOAP Extension Functions for Client Programs

 GetTempDump.php - Dumping Debugging Information

Whis Is WSDL (Web Services Definition Language)?

 Using SOAP Extension in non-WDSL Mode

 PHP SOAP Extension Server Programs

 Java Socket and HttpURLConnection for SOAP

 SAAJ - SOAP with Attachments API for Java

 SoapUI - SOAP Web Service Testing Tool

 WS-Security - SOAP Message Security Extension

 WS-Security X.509 Certificate Token

 Web Services and SOAP Terminology

 References

 PDF Printing Version