Using the Web Services Description Language (WSDL)

Service Oriented Architecture SOA - Using the Web Services Description Language (WSDL)

The Web Services Description Language (WSDL) forms the basis for Web Services. The following figure illustrates the use of WSDL. At the left is a service provider. At the right is a service consumer. The steps involved in providing and consuming a service are:

1. A service provider describes its service using WSDL. This definition is published to a directory of services. The directory could use Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI). Other forms of directories can also be used.
2. A service consumer issues one or more queries to the directory to locate a service and determine how to communicate with that service.
3. Part of the WSDL provided by the service provider is passed to the service consumer. This tells the service consumer what the requests and responses are for the service provider.
4. The service consumer uses the WSDL to send a request to the service provider.
5. The service provider provides the expected response to the service consumer.

Source: http://www.service-architecture.com/web-services/articles/web_services_explained.html