Getting Started with Web Services

Web Services Link is a Mathematica add-on application. Before any functions from the package can be used, it must be loaded as follows.

InstallService will install the web service operations defined by a supplied WSDL as Mathematica functions. The functions created are returned in a list.

The functions created by InstallService are placed in a context based on the service name and port name specified by the WSDL. A user can change this context by supplying a valid Mathematica context to InstallService.

By default the context of a web service is added to the $ContextPath. This allows users to call the functions without having to specify the context. However, there is a danger that the functions installed by InstallService will collide with other functions already defined in Mathematica on $ContextPath. If a user does not want the web service context added to $ContextPath, then the user should set AllowShortContext->False. If this option is set to False, then the entire context will need to be specified in order to call a function.

$InstalledServices may be used to determine which web service functions are installed. This is a list of all the web service functions installed.

The usage message for each function may be inspected to discover how the function works. may be used to get the usage message for a symbol. For instance, retrieves the usage message for . The usage message for a web service function is populated with the documentation provided by the WSDL.

Each usage message contains a function signature that may be used to call the function. For instance, does not require any parameters and returns a string.

The usage message should be a starting point for determining what to input as parameters and what to expect as a result. Once this is determined, the function may be executed. A web service function may be executed just like any other Mathematica function.