This deployment information consists of the data stored in WSDL elements as follows:

  • Web service namespace — A namespace used to uniquely identify the Web service to the WSA instance where the Web service is deployed. In the WSDL, this value is specified by the targetNamespace attribute of the <definitions> element. It is typically specified as a Universal Resource Identifier (URI), usually in the form of a Universal Resource Locator (URL) or Universal Resource Name (URN). The value can be specified in ProxyGen, during Web service definition, or in OpenEdge Management or OpenEdge Explorer, during Web service deployment.
  • WSA URL — The URL for the WSA instance where the Web service is deployed, and that forms the root for all URLs that access the Web services it manages. In the WSDL, this is specified by the location attribute of the <soap:address> element within the <services> element.
  • SOAP action — A string (if specified) that the client application must place in the SOAPAction HTTP header when it invokes operations on the Web service. In the WSDL, this value is specified using the soapAction attribute of the <soap:operation> element, and the value is included in the SOAPAction header of all HTTP messages that transport SOAP messages for the Web service.

    The SOAPAction HTTP header is normally required for all HTTP messages that carry SOAP messages and is used by intervening security servers (such as firewalls) to determine if each HTTP message is allowed to pass through to its destination. The default is a blank string, but can be any string specified at deployment that is required by the intervening security servers on the network.

  • SOAP format — Two string values that specify the format of SOAP messages exchanged between the client and the Web service. In the WSDL, these are specified by the style attribute in the <soap:binding> and <soap:operation> elements, and by the use attribute in the <soap:header>, <soap:body>, and <soap:fault> elements. While these values are specified in many places within the WSDL, the same style and use values are used everywhere in the file, ensuring that all SOAP messages generated for the Web service use the same SOAP format. For more information on SOAP formats, see SOAP message formats.

For more information on specifying this deployment information in a WSDL, see Learn About Open Clients for the optional WSDL typically used for development testing, and see the Web service deployment chapters in OpenEdge Application Server: Administration for the WSDL deployed to a WSA instance. For more information on how the WSDL file specifies this information, see WSDL element overview for OpenEdge Web services.