WSDL

Web Services Description Language is the standard format for describing a

web service in XML format.

In this tutorial you will learn what is WSDL and Why and How to use it.

WSDL is very easy to learn and very important for Web Services

WSDL Abstract:

 WSDL stands for Web Services Description Language

 WSDL is an XML based protocol for information exchange in decentralized and distributed
environments.
 WSDL is the standard format for describing a web service.
 WSDL definition describes how to access a web service and what operations it will perform.
 WSDL is a language for describing how to interface with XML-based services.
 WSDL is an integral part of UDDI, an XML-based worldwide business registry.
 WSDL is the language that UDDI uses.
 WSDL was developed jointly by Microsoft and IBM.
 WSDL is pronounced as 'wiz-dull' and spelled out as 'W-S-D-L'

WSDL Usage:

WSDL is often used in combination with SOAP and XML Schema to provide web services over the Internet. A
client program connecting to a web service can read the WSDL to determine what functions are available on
the server. Any special datatypes 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 functions listed in the WSDL.

History of WSDL

WSDL 1.1 was submitted as a W3C Note by Ariba, IBM and Microsoft for describing services for the W3C XML
Activity on XML Protocols in March 2001.

WSDL 1.1 has not been endorsed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), however it has just (May 11th,
2005) released a draft for version 2.0, that will be a recommendation (an official standard), and thus
endorsed by the W3C.

Our Recomedation:

We recommend to study the following subjects alongwith WSDL

 XML, XML Namespaces and XML Schema

 UDDI
 Web Services
 SOAP
WSDL breaks down Web services into three specific, identifiable elements that can be combined or reused
once defined.

Three major elements of WSDL that can be defined separately and they are:

 Types
 Operations
 Binding

A WSDL document has various elements, but they are contained within these three main elements, which
can be developed as separate documents and then they can be combined or reused to form complete WSDL
files.

Following are the elements of WSDL document. Within these elements are further subelements, or parts:

 Definition: element must be the root element of all WSDL documents. It defines the name of the
web service, declares multiple namespaces used throughout the remainder of the document, and
contains all the service elements described here.
 Data types: the data types - in the form of XML schemas or possibly some other mechanism - to be
used in the messages
 Message: an abstract definition of the data, in the form of a message presented either as an entire
document or as arguments to be mapped to a method invocation.
 Operation: the abstract definition of the operation for a message, such as naming a method,
message queue, or business process, that will accept and process the message
 Port type : an abstract set of operations mapped to one or more end points, defining the collection
of operations for a binding; the collection of operations, because it is abstract, can be mapped to
multiple transports through various bindings.
 Binding: the concrete protocol and data formats for the operations and messages defined for a
particular port type.
 Port: a combination of a binding and a network address, providing the target address of the service
communication.
 Service: a collection of related end points encompassing the service definitions in the file; the
services map the binding to the port and include any extensibility definitions.

In addition to these major elements, the WSDL specification also defines the following utility elements:

 Documentation: element is used to provide human-readable documentation and can be included

inside any other WSDL element.
 Import: element is used to import other WSDL documents or XML Schemas.

NOTE: WSDL parts usually are generated automatically using Web services-aware tools.

The WSDL Document Structure

The main structure of a WSDL document looks like this:

<definitions>
<types>
definition of types........
</types>

<message>
definition of a message....
</message>

<portType>
<operation>
 definition of a operation.......
</operation>
</portType>

<binding>
definition of a binding....
</binding>

<service>
definition of a service....
</service>

</definitions>
A WSDL document can also contain other elements, like extension elements and a service element that
makes it possible to group together the definitions of several web services in one single WSDL document.

Proceed further to analyze an example of WSDL Document.

Following is the WSDL file that is provided to demonstrate a simple WSDL program.

Assuming the service provides a single publicly available function, called sayHello. This function expects a
single string parameter and returns a single string greeting. For example if you pass the parameter world
then service function sayHello returns the greeting, "Hello, world!".

Content of HelloService.wsdl file

<definitions name="HelloService"
targetNamespace="http://www.examples.com/wsdl/HelloService.wsdl"
xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/"
xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap/"
xmlns:tns="http://www.examples.com/wsdl/HelloService.wsdl"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">

<message name="SayHelloRequest">
<part name="firstName" type="xsd:string"/>
</message>
<message name="SayHelloResponse">
<part name="greeting" type="xsd:string"/>
</message>

<portType name="Hello_PortType">
<operation name="sayHello">
<input message="tns:SayHelloRequest"/>
<output message="tns:SayHelloResponse"/>
</operation>
</portType>

<binding name="Hello_Binding" type="tns:Hello_PortType">

<soap:binding style="rpc"
transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http"/>
<operation name="sayHello">
<soap:operation soapAction="sayHello"/>
<input>
<soap:body
 encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"
namespace="urn:examples:helloservice"
use="encoded"/>
</input>
<output>
<soap:body
encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"
namespace="urn:examples:helloservice"
use="encoded"/>
</output>
</operation>
</binding>

<service name="Hello_Service">
<documentation>WSDL File for HelloService</documentation>
<port binding="tns:Hello_Binding" name="Hello_Port">
<soap:address
location="http://www.examples.com/SayHello/">
</port>
</service>
</definitions>

Analysis of the Example

 Definition : HelloService
 Type : Using built-in data types and they are defined in XMLSchema.
 Message :
1. sayHelloRequest : firstName parameter
2. sayHelloresponse: greeting return value

 Port Type: sayHello operation that consists of a request and response service.
 Binding: Direction to use the SOAP HTTP transport protocol.
 Service: Service available at http://www.examples.com/SayHello/.
 Port: Associates the binding with the URI http://www.examples.com/SayHello/ where the running
service can be accessed.

A detailed description of these elements is given in subsequent sections of the tutorial

The <definition> element must be the root element of all WSDL documents. It defines the name of the web
service.

Here is the example piece of code from last session which uses definition element.

<definitions name="HelloService"
targetNamespace="http://www.examples.com/wsdl/HelloService.wsdl"
xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/"
xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap/"
xmlns:tns="http://www.examples.com/wsdl/HelloService.wsdl"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
................................................
</definitions>
From the above example we can conclude the followings points:

 The definitions element is a container of all the other elements.

 The definitions element specifies that this document is the HelloService.
 The definitions element specifies a targetNamespace attribute. The targetNamespace is a
 convention of XML Schema that enables the WSDL document to refer to itself. In this example we
have specified a targetNamespace of http://www.examples.com/wsdl/HelloService.wsdl.
 The definition element specifies a default namespace: xmlns=http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/. All
elements without a namespace prefix, such as message or portType, are therefore assumed to be
part of the default WSDL namespace.
 It also specifies numerous namespaces that will be used throughout the remainder of the document.

NOTE: The namespace specification does not require that the document actually exist at the given location.
The important point is that you specify a value that is unique, different from all other namespaces that are
defined.
A Web service needs to define its inputs and outputs and how they are mapped into and out of services.
WSDL <types> element take care of defining the data types that are used by the web service. Types are
XML documents, or document parts.

Here is a piece of code taken from W3C specification. This code depicts how a types element can be used
within a WSDL.

 The types element describes all the data types used between the client and server.

 WSDL is not tied exclusively to a specific typing system
 WSDL uses the W3C XML Schema specification as its default choice to define data types.
 If the service uses only XML Schema built-in simple types, such as strings and integers, then types
element is not required.
 WSDL allows the types to be defined in separate elements so that the types are reusable with
multiple Web services.

<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>
Data types address the problem of how to identify the data types and formats you intend to use with your
Web services. Type information is shared between sender and receiver. The recipients of messages therefore
need access to the information you used to encode your data and must understand how to decode the data.

 The <message> element describes the data being exchanged between the Web service providers
and consumers.
 Each Web Service has two messages: input and output.
 The input describes the parameters for the Web Service and the output describes the return data
from the Web Service.
 Each message contains zero or more <part> parameters, one for each parameter of the Web
Service's function.
 Each <part> parameter associates with a concrete type defined in the <types> container element.
Lets take a piece of code from the Example Session:

<message name="SayHelloRequest">
<part name="firstName" type="xsd:string"/>
</message>
<message name="SayHelloResponse">
<part name="greeting" type="xsd:string"/>
</message>

Here, two message elements are defined. The first represents a request message SayHelloRequest, and the
second represents a response message SayHelloResponse.

Each of these messages contains a single part element. For the request, the part specifies the function
parameters; in this case, we specify a single firstName parameter. For the response, the part specifies the
function return values; in this case, we specify a single greeting return value.

The <portType> element combines multiple message elements to form a complete oneway or round-trip
operation.

For example, a <portType> can combine one request and one response message into a single
request/response operation. This is most commonly used in SOAP services. A portType can define multiple
operations.

Lets take a piece of code from the Example Session:

<portType name="Hello_PortType">
<operation name="sayHello">
<input message="tns:SayHelloRequest"/>
<output message="tns:SayHelloResponse"/>
</operation>
</portType>
 The portType element defines a single operation, called sayHello.
 The operation itself consists of a single input message SayHelloRequest
 The operation itself consists of a single output message SayHelloResponse

Patterns of Operation
WSDL supports four basic patterns of operation:

One-way :
The service receives a message. The operation therefore has a single input element. The grammar for a one-
way operation is:

<wsdl:definitions .... > <wsdl:portType .... > *

<wsdl:operation name="nmtoken">
<wsdl:input name="nmtoken"? message="qname"/>
</wsdl:operation>
</wsdl:portType >
</wsdl:definitions>

Request-response:
The service receives a message and sends a response. The operation therefore has one input element,
followed by one output element. To encapsulate errors, an optional fault element can also be specified. The
grammar for a request-response operation is:

<wsdl:definitions .... >

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

Solicit-response:
The service sends a message and receives a response. The operation therefore has one output element,
followed by one input element. To encapsulate errors, an optional fault element can also be specified. The
grammar for a solicit-response operation is:

<wsdl:definitions .... >

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

Notification :
The service sends a message. The operation therefore has a single output element. Following is the
grammer for a notification operation:

<wsdl:definitions .... >

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

 The <service> element defines the ports supported by the Web service. For each of the supported
protocols, there is one port element. The service element is a collection of ports.
 Web service clients can learn from the service element where to access the service, through which
port to access the Web service, and how the communication messages are defined.
 The service element includes a documentation element to provide human-readable documentation.

Here is a pice of code from Example Session:

<service name="Hello_Service">
<documentation>WSDL File for HelloService</documentation>
<port binding="tns:Hello_Binding" name="Hello_Port">
<soap:address
 location="http://www.examples.com/SayHello/">
</port>
</service>

The binding attributes of por element associate the address of the service with a binding element defined in
the Web service. In this example this is Hello_Binding

<binding name="Hello_Binding" type="tns:Hello_PortType">

<soap:binding style="rpc"
transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http"/>
<operation name="sayHello">
<soap:operation soapAction="sayHello"/>
<input>
<soap:body
encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"
namespace="urn:examples:helloservice"
use="encoded"/>
</input>
<output>
<soap:body
encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"
namespace="urn:examples:helloservice"
use="encoded"/>
</output>
</operation>
</binding>

You have leanred about WSDL, now the next step is to learn about SOAP, UDDI and Web Services.

Web Services

Web services are open standard ( XML, SOAP, HTTP etc.) based Web applications that interact with other
web applications for the purpose of exchanging data.

To learn more about Web Services visit Web Services Tutorial

UDDI

UDDI is an XML-based standard for describing, publishing, and finding Web services.

To learn more about UDDI visit UDDI Tutorial

SOAP

SOAP is a simple XML-based protocol that allows applications to exchange information over HTTP.

To learn more about SOAP visit SOAP