WSDL File Structure

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WSDL File Structure

WSDL files are formally structured with elements that contain a description of the data to be passed to the web service. This enables both the sending application and the receiving application to interpret the data being exchanged.

WSDL elements contain a description of the operation to perform on the data and a binding to a protocol or transport. This permits the receiving application to both process the data and interpret how to respond or return data. Additional sub-elements may be contained within each WSDL element.

The WSDL file structure includes these major elements:

Data Types generally in the form of XML schema to be used in the messages.

Message the definition of the data in the form of a message either as a complete document or as arguments to be mapped to a method invocation.

Port Type a set of operations mapped to an address. This defines a collection of operations for a binding.

Binding: the actual protocol and data formats for the operations and messages defined for a particular port type.

Service and Port the service maps the binding to the port and the port is the combination of a binding and the network address for the communication exchange.


	Note: The code fragments in this section are from the DocInfo.wsdl file provided with the WSDL Generator component. See Sample WSDL File for a complete WSDL file.

Data Type

The Data Type <types> defines the complex types and associated elements. Web services supports both simple data types (such as string, integer, or boolean) and complex data types. A complex type is a structured XML document that contains a number of simple types or an array of sub-elements.

The following fragment for the ContentInfo set defines the Name, Title, Author, and Group elements and specifies that they are strings.

<s:complexType name="ContentInfo">

<s:sequence>

<s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="dDocName" type="s:string"/>

<s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="dDocTitle" type="s:string"/>

<s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="dDocType" type="s:string"/>

<s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="dDocAuthor" type="s:string"/>

<s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="dSecurityGroup" type="s:string"/>

</s:sequence>

</s:complexType>

Message

The Message <message> defines the data as arguments to be mapped to a method invocation.

</message>

</message>

Port Type

The Port Type <portType> defines a collection of operations for a binding. The DocInfo.wsdl file provides the DocInfoSoap and the DocInfo operation name (method name) with input/output information for processing the message.

</operation>

</portType>


	Note: While a port type is a collection of operations (like classes in Java), WSDL is an independent data abstraction that provides more functionality than simply mapping to .NET, EJB, or CORBA objects.

Binding

The binding <binding> defines the actual protocol and data formats for the operations and messages for the particular port type.

<soap:binding transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http" style="document" />

<soap:operation soapAction="http://wwww.oracle.com/Soap/DocInfo/" style="document" />

<input>

<soap:body use="literal" />

</input>

<soap:body use="literal" />

</output>

</operation>

</binding>

Service and Port

The service <service> maps the binding to the port. The port is the combination of a binding and the network address for the communication exchange. The port is used to expose a set of port types (operations) on the defined transport.

<soap:address location="HTTP://testserver/stellent/idcplg" />

</port>

</service>


	Tech Tip: You can add `&IsSoap=1` to the URL of a Content Server browser window to view the underlying SOAP code for that page.