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WSDLReading,aBeginner'sGuide

WSDLReading,aBeginner'sGuide

By:ThomasBayer
Date:08/24/2009
ThisarticleexplainshowtoreadaWSDLdocumentbyanalyzingtheWebServicesdescriptionofapublic
sampleService.DuringthearticleatreediagramisdevelopedfromthecontentoftheWSDLdocument.The
treeillustratesthestructureofWSDL.ThereaderwillgetanunderstandingoftheWSDLelementsandtheir
relationships.
TherootelementofaWSDLdocumentisdefinitions.SowestarttheWSDLtreewithadefinitionsnodeasroot.

Seefigure1:

Figure1:DefinitionandService
ToanalyseaWSDLdocumentitisrecommendedtoreaditfromthebuttomupwards.Atthebottomofthe
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BLZService'sWSDLwefindachildelementofdefinitionsnamedservice.
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<wsdl:servicename="BLZService">
<wsdl:portname="BLZServiceSOAP11port_http"binding="tns:BLZServiceSOAP11Binding"
<soap:addresslocation="http://www.thomasbayer.com:80/axis2/services/BLZService
</wsdl:port>
<wsdl:portname="BLZServiceSOAP12port_http"binding="tns:BLZServiceSOAP12Binding"
<soap12:addresslocation="http://www.thomasbayer.com:80/axis2/services/BLZService
</wsdl:port>
<wsdl:portname="BLZServiceHttpport"binding="tns:BLZServiceHttpBinding">
<http:addresslocation="http://www.thomasbayer.com:80/axis2/services/BLZService
</wsdl:port>
</wsdl:service>

Listing1:ServiceElement
ThenameoftheserviceisBLZService.Aservicecanhavemultipleportsmarkedinfigure2witha*character.
Eachportdescribesawaytoaccesstheservice.InourBLZServiceexampletherearethreeports.Onefor
SOAP1.1,oneforSOAP1.2andonefortheHTTPbinding.

Figure2:PortsofaService
Let'shavealookatthefirstportinlisting2.
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<wsdl:portname="BLZServiceSOAP11port_http"binding="tns:BLZServiceSOAP11Binding">
<soap:addresslocation="http://www.thomasbayer.com:80/axis2/services/BLZService"/>

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</wsdl:port>

Listing2:PortdescribingaSOAP1.1Endpoint
It'schildelementaddresshasadifferentXMLprefixthantheotherelements.Theprefixsoapisboundtothe
SOAP1.1bindinginthisdocument.InsteadoftheSOAPbindingotherbindingsforJMSorafiletransportcan
beused.Theaddresselementhasoneattributenamedlocationpointingtoanendpointaddressoftheservice.

Figure3:EndpointAddress
Tomoveon,wehavetolookatthebindingattributeoftheport.
Thevalue"tns:BLZServiceSOAP11Binding"pointstoabindingfurtherupinthedocument.Eachportispointing
toadifferentbindinginthisexample.AsaconsequencetheBLZServiceWSDLhasthreebindings.

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Figure4:APortreferencesaBinding
Abindingprovidesdetailsaboutaspecifictransport.Thebindinginfigure5hastwodifferenttypesofchildren.

Figure5:SOAPBinding
Firstwehavealookatthesoap:bindingelementinlisting3.ThevalueofthetransportattributeisanURIthat
indicatesthatSOAPmessagesshouldbesendoverHTTP.Thevalue"document"ofthestyleattributegivesus
aclueaboutthemessagestyletogetherwiththeuseattributeofthesoap:bodyelements.Inourexamplewe
haveaDocument/Literalmessagestyle.
Abindingcanspecifydifferenttransportoptionsforeachmethodofaservice.
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<wsdl:bindingname="BLZServiceSOAP11Binding"type="tns:BLZServicePortType">

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WSDLReading,aBeginner'sGuide

<soap:bindingtransport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http"style="document"/>
<wsdl:operationname="getBank">
<soap:operationsoapAction=""style="document"/>
<wsdl:input>
<soap:bodyuse="literal"/>
</wsdl:input>
<wsdl:output>
<soap:bodyuse="literal"/>
</wsdl:output>
</wsdl:operation>
</wsdl:binding>

Listing3:SOAP1.1Binding
Let'shavealookatlisting4.ThereyoucanfindtransportoptionsforthegetBankoperation.
Insidethewsdl:operationelementthereisasoap:operationelementatline2definingdetailsfortheSOAP
protocolanditstransport.ThesoapActionisareminiscentfromthepast.TheBasicProfileoftheWebServices
InteroperabilityOrganizationstipulatesthatthesoapActionshouldbeusedwithafixedvalueofanemptystring.
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<wsdl:operationname="getBank">
<soap:operationsoapAction=""style="document"/>
<wsdl:input>
<soap:bodyuse="literal"/>
</wsdl:input>
<wsdl:output>
<soap:bodyuse="literal"/>
</wsdl:output>
</wsdl:operation>

Listing4:BindingOperation
BecauseWebServicessetthefocusonmessagesnotparameters,informationaboutthetransportofthese
messagescanbefoundinthewsdl:inputandwsdl:outputelement.Aservicemayspecifyoneorseveralfaults
asanalternativefortheoutput.
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Figure6:BindingOperation
Thesoap:bodyandsoap:headerelementscandescribeamessagefurther.Intheexamplethestyleisalways
literal.

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Figure7:soap:bodyElements
ItistimeagaintomoveupintheWSDL.Nowwefollowthevalueofthetypeattributeofthebinding.Itpointstoa
portTypewiththesamenamefurtherupinthedocument.

Figure8:BindingreferencingaPortType
Nowwehavecrossedtheborderfromtheconcretedetailsaboutthetransportandlocationofaservicetoits
pureabstractdescriptionofitsinterface.PortTypeisinWSDL1.1similartotheinterfaceoftheWebService.In
WSDL2.0thetermportTypeissubstitutedwiththeterminterface.
Aninterfacecanhaveseveraloperations.Anoperationcorrespondstoafunctioninproceduralprogramming.
TheWSDLoftheBLZServicehasonlyoneportType.AllofthethreebindingsrefertotheoneportTypenamed
BLZServicePortType.

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Figure9:OperationsofaportType
InsideaportTypewefindoperationelementsasinthebinding.Butthistimetheinputandoutputdescribethe
structureofthemessagesnottransportspecificoptions.

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Figure10:InputandOutputofanOperation
ThemessageattributeoftheinputrefersagainupintheWSDLdocument.Itreferstoamessagenamed
tns:getBank.Furtherupinthedocumentwefindacorrespondingmessagewiththisname.
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<wsdl:portTypename="BLZServicePortType">
<wsdl:operationname="getBank">
<wsdl:inputmessage="tns:getBank"/>
<wsdl:outputmessage="tns:getBankResponse"wsaw:Action="http://thomasbayer.com/blz/B
</wsdl:operation>
</wsdl:portType>

Listing5:TheInterfaceDescriptionoftheService

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Figure11:Message
ThemessagegetBankhasonepartelementaschild.AWSDLspecialistwillrecognizethevalueoftheattribute
name,"parameters"indicatesthewrappersubstyleofthedocument/literalstyle.
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<wsdl:messagename="getBank">
<wsdl:partname="parameters"element="tns:getBank"/>
</wsdl:message>

Listing6:getBankMessage
Theattributeelementatline2pointsagainfurtherup.Itreferstoanelementnamedtns:getBank.Wewillfind
thiselementinaXMLSchema.

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Figure12:AMessageanditsParts
Thenextchildofthedefinitionselementistypes.

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Figure13:TheTypesSection
ThetypeselementcanhavemultipleXMLschemasaschildren.

Figure14:SchemasusedinaWSDL
Listing7showsthetypeselementandanembeddedschema.
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<wsdl:types>
<xsd:schemaattributeFormDefault="unqualified"elementFormDefault="qualified"targetNa
<xsd:elementname="getBank"type="tns:getBankType"/>
<xsd:elementname="getBankResponse"type="tns:getBankResponseType"/>
<xsd:complexTypename="getBankType">
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:elementname="blz"type="xsd:string"/>
</xsd:sequence>
</xsd:complexType>
<xsd:complexTypename="getBankResponseType">
<xsd:sequence>

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WSDLReading,aBeginner'sGuide

<xsd:elementname="details"type="tns:detailsType"/>
</xsd:sequence>
</xsd:complexType>
<xsd:complexTypename="detailsType">
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:elementminOccurs="0"name="bezeichnung"type="xsd:string"/>
<xsd:elementminOccurs="0"name="bic"type="xsd:string"/>
<xsd:elementminOccurs="0"name="ort"type="xsd:string"/>
<xsd:elementminOccurs="0"name="plz"type="xsd:string"/>
</xsd:sequence>
</xsd:complexType>
</xsd:schema>
</wsdl:types>

Listing7:EmbeddedXMLSchema
Inaschemawecanfindthedefinitionof:
complexTypes
simpleTypes
andthedeclerationof:
elements
TheXMLSchemainsideBLZServiceisatypicalschemausedforWebServicesthathasonlycomplexTypes
andelementsastoplevelschemacomponents.
Indocument/literalstyleallthepartspointtoelements.

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Figure15:APartcanreferenceanElement
Listing8showsthedeclarationofthegetBankelement.
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<xsd:elementname="getBank"type="tns:getBankType"/>

Listing8:DeclarationoftheElementgetBank
ThetypeofthiselementisacomplexTypenamedgetBankTypedefindedsomewhereelseintheschema.

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Figure16:AnElementreferencesitsType
ThegetBankTypehasasequenceasmodulgroupcontainingoneelementnamedblzofthebuildinschematype
string.

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Figure17:AComplexTypewithaSequenceasContent
Listing9showsthedefinitionofthegetBankType.
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<xsd:complexTypename="getBankType">
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:elementname="blz"type="xsd:string"/>
</xsd:sequence>
</xsd:complexType>

Listing9:TheComplexTypegetBankType
AsequencecanconsistofseveralelementsthatdescribetheorderofelementsinaSOAPmessage.

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Figure18:TheentireStructureofaWSDLDocument
FinallywearethroughtheentireWSDLdescriptionofthesampleservice.
AllWSDLdocumentshavethesamestructureastheBLZService.TounderstandaWSDLstartreadingatthe
bottomandworkyourwayupbyfollowingtherightattributesasshowninthisarticle.
IhopethisarticlewashelpfultolearnhowtoreadaWSDLdocument.
ThomasBayer
bayer@predic8.com
References
WSDL1.1Specification
WSDL2.0Specification

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