What is a Web Service?

The Verastream Process Designer uses Web services and BPEL to build a business process.

A Web service is a Web-based API that can be accessed over a network and executed against the remote system that is hosting the service using XML, SOAP, REST, and WSDL open standards. The Process Designer supports both SOAP and RESTful services.

Web services are valuable because they allow businesses to communicate with each other and with clients without knowledge of each other's IT systems.

How does BPEL work with Web services?

BPEL is a programming language you can use to write programs that use Web services and programs that are Web services.

The WSDL file describes how to use the Web service and how the Web service is bound. You can think of it as the metadata that describes the API.

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More Information

• What is a Business Process?
• How to Host Your Own Java Web Service
• Importing Web Services
• Using Non-WS-I Compliant Web Services