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In order for Web Services to proliferate it is important to be able to describe them in some structured way. The Web Services Description Language (WSDL) addresses this need by defining an XML grammar for describing Web Services as collections of message-enabled endpoints or ports.

In WSDL, the abstract definition of endpoints and messages is separated from their concrete deployment or bindings. The concrete protocol and data format specifications for a particular endpoint type constitute a binding. An endpoint is defined by associating a Web address with a binding, and a collection of endpoints defines a service.

Java EE-enabled Web Services exchange information with interested parties using WSDL to come to an agreement on the proper format for each transferred XML document. Third parties who want to transact business with a Java EE-enabled Web Service company can look up information about the company’s Web Services in a registry.

As with a Java EE Web Service, a .NET Web Service supports the WSDL 1.1 specification and uses a WSDL document to describe itself. In this case, however, an XML namespace is used within a WSDL document to uniquely identify the Web Service’s endpoints.

.NET provides a client-side component that lets an application invoke Web Service operations described by a WSDL document and a server-side component that maps Web Service operations to COM-object method calls as described by a WSDL and a Web Services Meta Language (WSML) file. This file is needed for Microsoft’s implementation of SOAP.

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