RESTful Services - WSDL Equivalent

Question

I have been reading about REST and SOAP, and understand why implementing REST can be beneficial over using a SOAP protocol. However, I still don\'t understand why there isn

Answer 1

WSDL is extensible to allow description of endpoints and their messages regardless of what message formats or network protocols are used to communicate

However, REST uses the network protocol by using HTTP verbs and the URI to represent an objects state.

WSDLs tell you at this place, if you send this message, you'll perform this action and get this format back as a result.

In REST, if I wanted to create a new profile I would use the verb POST with a JSON body or http server variables describing my profile to the URL /profile

POST should return a server-side generated ID, using the status code 201 CREATED and the header Location: *new_profile_id* (for example 12345)

I can then perform updates changing the state of /profile/12345 using the HTTP verb POST, say to change my email addresss or phone number. Obviously changing the state of the remote object.

GET would return the current status of the /profile/12345

PUT is usually used for client-side generated ID

DELETE, obvious

HEAD, gets the status without returning the body.

With REST it should be self-documenting through a well designed API and thus easier to use.

This is a great article on REST. It really help me understand it too.