REST web service WSDL?
I am implementing a web service and I have implemented both a REST and SOAP version to see which suited my needs.I have decided to choose REST because of its simplicity and that I will probably be developing an iPhone app to consume it. My question is simple really, is it possible to create a WSDL or WADL for my REST service and is it necessary?
Thanks
Answer
With a good RESTful service, it's not necessary to generate WADL (let alone the much-less-well-fitting WSDL) for it because it will self-describe. By “self-describe” I specifically mean that it will deliver documents describing all the (relevant) resources published by the service, and that using a standard HTTP OPTIONS request on any of these will produce basic information about how to interact. The only real benefit to using WADL is that it allows the caller to discover the schemas for the complex documents it needs to work with ahead of time; REST itself provides no help there (and some RESTians believe that doing such things is counter-productive, which I'm not sure I agree with).
Of course, that doesn't capture the deeper interaction patterns, but neither do the vast majority of WSDL descriptions of services so no change there.
For the record, I use Apache CXF to create RESTful services (using JAX-RS) and that publishes WADL for them.