WSDL is a way to describe a webservice (using a XML dialect) in terms of: operations (that have input and output messages) and endpoints (the actual URL to access the webservice).
When you accessed your other guy's URL, the "XML API description" you got back was the actual WSDL. So it wasnt' that the URL he gave you was the WSDL, but the actual XML. SOAP is another XML dialect: one sends SOAP messages to the enpoints defined in a WSDL to access a webservice. Usually, the messages defined in a WSDL are the same as the SOAP body part. So WSDL is a very strict way to define webservice APIs, and it covers a lot of aspects of webservices (it has extensions for transactions, security, reliable messaging, etc). By contrast, XMLRPC is a much more loose standard to send data around the web in XML format - it doesn't attempt to regulate too many aspects of webservices, so it's easier to understand and use to start with. To answer your first question as well: to use WSDL for in-house communication sounds like a lot of overkill to me - but on the other hand, if you ever plan to externalize that data (say your company decides to publish some internal module X as a webservice), than it's good to use WSDL to start with. This is the theory :-) Before deciding what standard to use, make sure that your programming language/framework supports it well, otherwise it's no fun. Sorin tobiah wrote: > I recently wrote a SOAP client(?) to read what the guy from > the other company called a WSDL, which was just a URL that > served an XML API description. Is that the same as XMLRPC > (I ask because you mention SOAP). > > Thanks, > > Toby > > WakeBdr wrote: > > XMLRPC and SOAP are the two I'm working with right now. > > > > > > tobiah wrote: > >> Is WSDL the right answer for in house communication > >> between programs written in different languages, or > >> is it more for publishing interfaces for use by parties > >> outside your own company? > >> > >> What else is available for sharing complex structures > >> with processes running programs that were written in > >> other languages? > >> > >> Thanks, > >> > >> Toby > >> > >> -- > >> Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com > > > > -- > Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
