Web Application Description Language

<h2 id="format">Format</h2>
<p>The service is described using a set of <i><a href="/facts/Web_resource/42wbl7QV">resource</a></i> elements. Each resource contains <i>param</i> elements to describe the inputs, and <i>method</i> elements which describe the <i>request</i> and <i>response</i> of a resource. The <i>request</i> element specifies how to represent the input, what types are required and any specific HTTP headers that are required. The <i>response</i> describes the representation of the service's response, as well as any fault information, to deal with errors.
</p>
<h2 id="example">Example</h2>
<p>The following listing shows an example of a WADL description for the Yahoo News Search application.
</p>
 <application xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://wadl.dev.java.net/2009/02 wadl.xsd" 
  xmlns:tns="urn:yahoo:yn" xmlns:yn="urn:yahoo:yn" xmlns:ya="urn:yahoo:api"
  xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
  xmlns="http://wadl.dev.java.net/2009/02"> 
   <grammars> 
     <include href="NewsSearchResponse.xsd"/> 
     <include href="Error.xsd"/> 
   </grammars> 
 
   <resources base="http://api.search.yahoo.com/NewsSearchService/V1/"> 
     <resource path="newsSearch"> 
       <method name="GET" id="search"> 
         <request> 
           <param name="appid" type="xsd:string" style="query" required="true"/> 
           <param name="query" type="xsd:string" style="query" required="true"/> 
           <param name="type" style="query" default="all"> 
             <option value="all"/> 
             <option value="any"/> 
             <option value="phrase"/> 
           </param> 
           <param name="results" style="query" type="xsd:int" default="10"/> 
           <param name="start" style="query" type="xsd:int" default="1"/> 
           <param name="sort" style="query" default="rank"> 
             <option value="rank"/> 
             <option value="date"/> 
           </param> 
           <param name="language" style="query" type="xsd:string"/> 
         </request> 
         <response status="200"> 
           <representation mediaType="application/xml" element="yn:ResultSet"/> 
         </response> 
         <response status="400"> 
           <representation mediaType="application/xml" element="ya:Error"/> 
         </response> 
       </method> 
     </resource> 
   </resources>
 </application>

<h2 id="generate-wadl-or-generate-code-from-wadl">Generate WADL or generate code from WADL</h2>
<h3>Java</h3>
<p>There are multiple tools to generate java code from an existing WADL:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a>
</p>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Apache_CXF/wk5DJ8rP">Apache CXF</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Java_API_for_RESTful_Web_Services/LXbkgHFP">Java API for RESTful Web Services</a>, and its reference implementation, Jersey</li></ul>
<h3>Example WADL Generated by CXF</h3>
<app xmlns="http://research.sun.com/wadl/2006/10" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <grammars>
    <xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" attributeFormDefault="unqualified"
               elementFormDefault="unqualified">
      <xs:element name="appProfile" type="appProfile"/>
      <xs:element name="customerProfile" type="customerProfile"/>
      <xs:complexType name="customerProfile">
        <xs:sequence>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="accessPaymentServicesEnabled" type="xs:boolean"/>
          <xs:element maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0" name="attributes" nillable="true" type="attribute"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="billingType" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="defaultCurrency" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="defaultSpendingLimitCurrency" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="maximumSpendingLimit" type="xs:double"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="minimumSpendingLimit" type="xs:double"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="customerCategory" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="customerEnabled" type="xs:boolean"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="customerName" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="paymentNotificationEndpointAddress" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="pseCustomerId" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="resourceURL" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="settlementContractUuid" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="isSpendingLimitEnabled" type="xs:boolean"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="abcCustomerId" type="xs:string"/>
        </xs:sequence>
      </xs:complexType>
      <xs:complexType name="attribute">
        <xs:sequence>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="key" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="value" type="xs:string"/>
        </xs:sequence>
      </xs:complexType>
      <xs:complexType name="appProfile">
        <xs:sequence>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="appEnabled" type="xs:boolean"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="appName" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="appPassword" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="appUserName" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="appUuid" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0" name="attributes" nillable="true" type="attribute"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="description" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="customerName" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="resourceURL" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="serviceContractName" type="xs:string"/>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="abcAppId" type="xs:string"/>
        </xs:sequence>
      </xs:complexType>
    </xs:schema>
  </grammars>
  <resources base="http://mpsamara-mobl-vm1:9078/customermanagement/v1">
    <resource path="/customers">
      <resource path="/">
        <method name="DELETE">
          <request></request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
        <method name="GET">
          <request>
            <param name="page" style="query" type="xs:int"/>
            <param name="partialCustomerName" style="query" type="xs:string"/>
          </request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
        <method name="POST">
          <request>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
        <method name="PUT">
          <request></request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
      </resource>
      <resource path="/{customerUserName}">
        <method name="DELETE">
          <request></request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
      </resource>
      <resource path="/{customerUserName}">
        <param name="customerUserName" style="template" type="xs:string"/>
        <method name="GET">
          <request></request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
        <method name="POST">
          <request>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
      </resource>
      <resource path="/{customerUserName}">
        <method name="PUT">
          <request></request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
      </resource>
      <resource path="/{customerUserName}/apps">
        <method name="DELETE">
          <request></request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
      </resource>
      <resource path="/{customerUserName}/apps">
        <param name="customerUserName" style="template" type="xs:string"/>
        <method name="GET">
          <request>
            <param name="page" style="query" type="xs:int"/>
          </request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
        <method name="POST">
          <request>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
      </resource>
      <resource path="/{customerUserName}/apps">
        <method name="PUT">
          <request></request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
      </resource>
      <resource path="/{customerUserName}/apps/{appName}">
        <method name="DELETE">
          <request></request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
      </resource>
      <resource path="/{customerUserName}/apps/{appName}">
        <param name="customerUserName" style="template" type="xs:string"/>
        <param name="appName" style="template" type="xs:string"/>
        <method name="GET">
          <request></request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
        <method name="POST">
          <request>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
      </resource>
      <resource path="/{customerUserName}/apps/{appName}">
        <method name="PUT">
          <request></request>
          <response>
            <representation mediaType="app/json"/>
          </response>
        </method>
      </resource>
    </resource>
  </resources>
</app>

<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Overview_of_RESTful_API_Description_Languages/2bFTcpwI">Overview of RESTful API Description Languages</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/OpenAPI_Specification/QrSdM4bg">OpenAPI Specification</a> (Swagger)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/RAML_(software)/puQWvtPz">RAML (software)</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://github.com/javaee/wadl">WADL home page on github</a></li>
<li><a href="http://java.net/projects/wadl/sources/svn/content/trunk/www/wadl20090202.pdf">Current specification for WADL</a></li>
<li>Carlyle, Benjamin. <a href="http://soundadvice.id.au/blog/2009/08/31/">"WADL for REST-style SOA"</a> (2009-08-31). <i>soundadvice.id.au</i>. Retrieved 9 September 2021.</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Sun Microsystems (31 August 2009). "Web Application Description Language: W3C Member Submission 31 August 2009". World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved 12 August 2012. <a href="/wiki/Sun_Microsystems" target="_blank">/wiki/Sun_Microsystems</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Sun Microsystems (31 August 2009). "Web Application Description Language: W3C Member Submission 31 August 2009". World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved 12 August 2012. <a href="/wiki/Sun_Microsystems" target="_blank">/wiki/Sun_Microsystems</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Sun Microsystems (31 August 2009). "Web Application Description Language: W3C Member Submission 31 August 2009". World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved 12 August 2012. <a href="/wiki/Sun_Microsystems" target="_blank">/wiki/Sun_Microsystems</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>World Wide Web Consortium (14 October 2009). "Team Comment on the "Web Application Description Language" Submission". World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved 12 August 2012. <a href="/wiki/World_Wide_Web_Consortium" target="_blank">/wiki/World_Wide_Web_Consortium</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>Sun Microsystems (31 August 2009). "Web Application Description Language: W3C Member Submission 31 August 2009". World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved 12 August 2012. <a href="/wiki/Sun_Microsystems" target="_blank">/wiki/Sun_Microsystems</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>Sun Microsystems (31 August 2009). "Web Application Description Language: W3C Member Submission 31 August 2009". World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved 12 August 2012. <a href="/wiki/Sun_Microsystems" target="_blank">/wiki/Sun_Microsystems</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:7"><p>World Wide Web Consortium (14 October 2009). "Team Comment on the "Web Application Description Language" Submission". World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved 12 August 2012. <a href="/wiki/World_Wide_Web_Consortium" target="_blank">/wiki/World_Wide_Web_Consortium</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:8"><p>Lawrence Mandel (29 May 2008). "Describe REST Web services with WSDL 2.0: A how-to guide". IBM. Retrieved 12 August 2012. <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-restwsdl/" target="_blank">http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-restwsdl/</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:9"><p>github WADL project <a href="https://javaee.github.io/wadl/" target="_blank">https://javaee.github.io/wadl/</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:10"><p>Apache CXF <a href="https://cxf.apache.org" target="_blank">https://cxf.apache.org</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Web Application Description Language open-in-new

Web Application Description Language