Web service source and target definitions represent metadata for web service operations. A web service operation contains input or output messages in XML format. Input and output messages describe the data that web service operations exchange with the service that is running.

When you import a web service source or target definition, you import a web service operation from a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) file.

Web service source and target definitions contain one or more groups and one or more columns. The structure of the source or target definition depends on the input or output messages for the operation imported from the WSDL file. The Designer creates primary and foreign keys to indicate the relationships between groups.

The following figure shows groups, column names, and keys in a web service source definition with multiple groups. It shows the same source definition with one group:

Step 2 of the wizard determines whether the source has one group or multiple groups. The default choice is Entity, and this results in multiple groups in the source. Hierarchy-normalized results in one group. - After you choose one of them, click Finish.

The Designer gives a web service source and target definition the same name as the web service operation that you import. When you import a web service source or target definition, the Designer places it under the Sources or Targets node. The Designer places the web service source definition in a WebServices_Consumer database definition node.

Use any of the following methods to create a web service definition:

After you create the web service source or target, you can edit the definition in the Designer workspace or the WSDL workspace. When you import the web service source or target definition from a WSDL, you can view the web service source or target definition and edit a limited number of properties in the Designer workspace. You can edit the web service source or target definition in the WSDL workspace. If you create an empty source or target definition, you can define the views and ports in the WSDL workspace.