Why SOAP without WSDL?

Question

Is there a good reason to deploy or use a SOAP service without using a WSDL file?

Explanation:

I am in a situation where a third-party organization created a SOAP service that does not match the WSDL file itself, which they also created. I think I have to ignore the WSDL file in order to use this service. Therefore, I am exploring how to do this.

I really wonder why this is possible? What is the intention?

Is it designed so that we can use the poor services created by poor programmers? Of course, there must be a better reason. I almost wanted it to be impossible. Then I could demand that they write them down correctly.

Answer 1

The WSDL must be a public document that describes the SOAP service, so it describes the signatures of all the methods available in the service.

Of course, there may be service providers who want to expose the service to certain consumers, but who do not want to publish the service’s signature, at least in order to make it a little more difficult for people they don’t want to use the service to find it or try to use it . For example, a service signature may provide private information about their data pattern.

But I see no excuse for writing a WSDL that does not match the service. I would think that if they can’t get the WSDL right, what is the quality of service that will look like?

To answer another question, you can use the service without WSDL. If you use Visual Studio, for example, you could build a VS proxy for you based on the wrong WSDL, and then configure it to match the correct service method signatures. You just need to make sure that your data and method contracts in your proxy match the actual and service contracts.