02 WSDL File Intro

WSDL → Stands for Web Services Description Language

WSDL file is a contract between the web services provider and the consumer. It is a XML file with .wsdl extension. Ex: userprofile.wsdl

There are two things which a wsdl file provides. One it tells, what this particular webservice provides. 2nd how it provides it and how a consumer can consume those webservices.

It basically tells what message a consumer should send in the request and what response will go back as the webservice response back to the consumer.

WSDL Portion

Based on these two, the WSDL file is divided into abstract portion and the physical portion. The root element of the wsdl file is definitions within which all the other element like.

The abstract portion tells what this webservices provides is comprised of four elements. (The types, messages, operation and port-type)

The physical section which comprises of two elements binding and service tell how to consume this service from the consumer.

it starts with <wsdl:binding>

In Physical Section: <wsdl:service /> is the final and most important element.

• it tells how to access this web service that actually url inside a sub element called port. We define port for each web service and a url to access that webservice. Here: UserProfileService.

• You can have multiple webservices inside a single user using multiple port elements. The url location here will be replaced by the server IP address and the web app name relatively far during the runtime by Apache cxf or any other web service engine we use dynamically.

The link between the abstract section and the physical section is the PORT type. Ex. <wsdl:binding name=”UserProfileBinding” type=”tns:UserProfilePortType”> which links to the <wsdl:portType name=”UserProfilePortType”>