Re: Creating a WSDL for someone else's web service

Every web service "works" the same since they all use HTTP. You've got a
URL that you use HTTP POST/GET/PUT/DELETE...methods against.

SOAP is simply standardized way to publish/consume a WS that relies on
exchanging XML messages.

REST is a term used to define certain non-SOAP defined web services that
relies mainly on arguments passed on the URL.

You don't appear to have either. :) Instead, you've got a "home grown" web
service that appears to exchange XML. Those are fun.

What you need to find out is what HTTP method needs to be used to send the
XML you've been given. Likely, it's a POST. So you'd build your XML and
use the appropriate HTTP_POST_xxxx() method of Scott's HTTP API.

Did you get anything more from the vendor about using the service? For
example, one vendor I'm working with gave an example that used cURL (a
common HTTP API like command line utility)

Another other is to open the WS URL in a browser and see what's there.

Charles





On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 10:37 AM, Koester, Michael <mkoester@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

Thanks Charles.
I think I may have a problem though, in that I don't know the details that
I may (or may not?) need. For starters, I don't yet know if I am dealing
with a SOAP or REST service. Or can I declare that in my WSDL and expect
the service to play along with whichever I've chosen?
The reference you pointed me to says:
"A WSDL description contains all the details of a Web service, including:
The service's URL. [Got that]
The communication mechanisms it understands. [No clue - is that
needed?]
What operations it can perform. [Got that]
The structure of its messages." [Apparently most are strings, so i can
probably fake that]

...and it also says:
"There are four child elements of description that together encapsulate
all of the details about a Web service:
types
interface
binding
service"
Not sure what I need for those.

I'm not there yet. I do appreciate the help though.
-- Michael
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:midrange-l-
bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Charles Wilt
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2014 9:47 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: Creating a WSDL for someone else's web service

Michael,

Personally, I'd just build the XML manually. It's pretty basic and not
SOAP based; SOAP services are where a WSDL really helps.

If you really want to look at creating a WSDL manually, this might
help:
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-restwsdl/

Charles


On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 9:33 AM, Koester, Michael <mkoester@data-
east.com>wrote:

New project: Communicate through a web service to some other outfit
to set up, modify, enable/disable, etc., email and other services.
This will be integrated with our Service Order maintenance

application

running on our IBM Power, in ILE-RPG. I've consumed web services
before. I can handle this.

First obstacle: I am told that this is to be done through their "web
service" (quotes intentional), but when I requested access to the
WSDL, I was referred to the care and feeding document. Said document
is a PDF containing descriptions of how to perform various operations
through various snippets of XML. Cool. I asked again where to find
the WSDL, and was told "haven't got one." Oh.

Perhaps I can construct one, and paste in the XML pieces? This web
service (my contact refers to the "app") is not publicly available,
which may explain why they don't have a WSDL. Perhaps this has never
been requested by other clients they've invited to share the app

with.

Question: How do I fudge up a WSDL that will include all the
necessary pieces to satisfy WSDL2RPG stub generators?

Second obstacle: I'm still waiting for SysOp to get the updates
installed to allow my access to "Web Administration for i". I

suspect

there is a wizard or two there that would help, but I can't get there
yet. We are on
7.1 (still waiting for TR7 too).

One of the operations from the care and feeding manual looks like

this:

[I do have the URL of where the XML gets sent to, as well as the user
and password referenced in the authenticate tag]

To suspend the user, issue the following command:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<authenticate>
<user>[*****]</user>
<pass>[********]</pass>
<domain>gsinet.net</domain>
</authenticate>
<archive_user>
<user>
<userid>bob</userid>
<archive_code>NOPAY</archive_code>
</user>
</archive_user>


So given that I may be rolling my own WSDL by hand, can someone point
me to some useful details? My goal is to have a suitable WSDL to be
accessed by WSDL2RPG.

Many thanks,
Michael Koester
Programmer/Analyst

DataEast

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