Generating HTML documentation from WSDL

Question

What are your approaches to generating some sort of human-readable documentation from WSDLs? In the past I've used WSDL viewer (by Tomi Vanek) and I'm happy with the results, but I'm interested in any possible alternatives.

I've also heard of x3sp, but I haven't tried it.

fglez · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-11T08:57:06.993

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I tried several alternatives

TechWriter for Web Services: Really powerful, but HTML output was (see comments) multi-file. Also, comments indicate it is retired, but that is no longer the case.
<oXygen/> XML Editor: It doesn't process embedded schema.
Altova XML Spy: It doesn't process anonymous types.

and ended up tweaking WSDL viewer to my needs.

edited Oct 11 '17 at 08:57

answered Sep 24 '09 at 11:26

fglez

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The current version of TechWriter for Web Services also supports single page HTML output. – Bernard Vander Beken Feb 12 '10 at 15:30
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Same thing here. i went wsdl viewer. soapui pro uses it too haha – Nicholas DiPiazza Mar 15 '16 at 22:04
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TechWriter was retired... some can share a license number? – willyMon May 04 '16 at 16:56
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I think that the link for techwriter is outdated. This is probably the new one. https://techwriter.me – damjad Oct 09 '17 at 12:15

score 11 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 14 '16 at 09:23

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It's not listed here, but SoapUI has a useful wsdl documentation generator.

Right-click on your project and select "Generate Documentation."

edited Jul 14 '16 at 09:23

John Slegers

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answered May 12 '16 at 14:11

Halfstop

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Seems to use the earlier mentioned wsdl-viewer.xsl (which moved to Apache Woden), the output looks the same. – Clauds Jan 20 '17 at 14:18
Worked great. Already had a project created in SOAPUI, and it created a nice html page for me. – MattC Jan 25 '17 at 15:28

Jian Chen · Answer 3 · 2015-12-21T09:26:45.907

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Yes, there is a new one: wsdl2html. It focuses on request/response and removes info that people don't care.

edited Dec 21 '15 at 09:26

answered Jun 07 '11 at 13:34

Jian Chen

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I tried using this but I didn't get a full list of services. Only one of my 27 services was displayed – Lai Dec 10 '13 at 11:21
I like wsdl2html's simplicity, which makes it very convenient to communicate the essential information about a service without confusing the audience. In my opinion, the only important feature that's missing is getting description/comments for operations and elements. – Juanal Jan 09 '15 at 02:11
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hi, I've updated the link. Now it is hosted on github. – Jian Chen Dec 21 '15 at 09:27

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 25 '11 at 13:55

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Use http://code.google.com/p/wsdl-viewer/ and cygwin's xsltproc

xsltproc wsdl-viewer.xsl downloaded-wsdl.xml > documetnation.html

Works like a charm

answered Feb 25 '11 at 13:55

Tomáš Fejfar

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it looked like different product at first, but i can see it'S the same now :)) – Tomáš Fejfar Feb 25 '11 at 13:56
worked great but doesn't go too deep into the XSD if one accompanies the files externally. i had to use this + Schema viewer as well – Nicholas DiPiazza Mar 10 '15 at 20:46

Leonid Rudy · Answer 5 · 2014-07-09T11:11:50.567

Now, there is one more tool for this, called "DocFlex/XML WSDLDoc".

It is a new WSDL/XSD documentation generator that will allow you to document any number of both WSDL and XML schema (XSD) files plus any interconnections between them.

There is also an option for automatic inclusion of XSD diagrams generated by either Altova XMLSpy or Oxygen XML. Effectively, any of them can be used as dynamically linked diagramming engine.

KEY FEATURES

Generation of single framed (Javadoc-like) HTML documentation by any number of WSDL/XSD files together. (If you have too many input files, you can pick them all using an Ant-like pathname pattern).
Processing of any number of XML schemas (along with WSDL) including:
- In the form of separate XSD files
- XML schemas embedded in WSDL (within <wsdl:definitons>/<wsdl:types> element)
Processing of any referenced WSDL files and XML schemas, in particular:
- Correct processing of all <wsdl:import>, <xs:import>, <xs:include>, <xs:redefine> elements found across all involved WSDL/XSD files.
- Automatic loading and processing (i.e. inclusion in the documentation scope) all directly/indirectly referenced WSDL/XSD files.
Sophisticated documenting of XSD components (XML schema documentation):
- Support of any XML schema design patterns.
- Possibility of automatic inclusion of XSD diagrams generated by either XMLSpy or Oxygen XML, with the support of all diagram hyperlinks.
Documenting of all interconnections between WSDL definitions and XSD components:
- Hyperlinks from WSDL messages to the details of XSD elements/types describing the message data.
- In XSD element/type details, the list of all WSDL definitions where they are used.
- Copy the annotations of XSD elements/types to the documentation of those WSDL messages (and even operations) where they are used.
Possibility of unlimited customization. WSDLDoc is actually a template set for DocFlex/XML, a software system for development and execution of high performance documentation and report generators from any data stored in XML files.

EXAMPLE

Here is a demo of such documentation (it was generated by a single source file: http://developer.ebay.com/webservices/latest/ebaySvc.wsdl):

eBay Trading API - WSDL documentation

The HTML itself: http://www.filigris.com/docflex-xml/wsdldoc/examples/html/ebaySvc/index.html

LINKS

http://www.filigris.com/docflex-xml/wsdldoc/

I have used the XML doc product for quite some time and I was absolutely pleased by the quality of the product.... too bad that my company didn't have the budget to buy some licenses, but I was glad to buy one for myself... — Pierluigi Vernetto, Jul 10 '14 at 12:09
It seems commercial product, requires license for full functionality — Venkatesh Muniyandi, Jan 18 '17 at 05:17

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 03 '14 at 14:22

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I just discovered that Notepad++ with the Xml Tools plugin installed can also do xsl transformations. If you provide it the wsdl-viewer.xsl mentioned earlier and the wsdl file, you'll get a nicely formatted html as a result.

answered Feb 03 '14 at 14:22

Patrick Koorevaar

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If you use Eclipse with EE features, it allows you to process an XSLT file by simply right-clicking on it, and selecting Run. – Juanal Jan 09 '15 at 02:12

score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 15 '09 at 21:45

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Altova's XMLSpy does generates HTML documentation from a WSDL ... but it isn't free ;)

answered Apr 15 '09 at 21:45

Alexandre Victoor

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score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 27 '09 at 00:18

I know this a poor man's documentation method, but I've used opening the wsdl's XSD in visual studio and doing snag-it prints of that with comments and arrows added for clarity and our customer seems to have liked it without having to use another tool. You also may not have this but could use a version from a free VPC or MSDN subscription I've also used the BizTalk schema editor to view the XSD as well and document it from there using snag-it or another screen capture app. I'd try and use what you have!

-Bryan

Archimedes Trajano · Answer 9 · 2010-08-04T16:11:17.833

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You can use "wsimport" which is part of the JDK and run Javadoc on the generated files. Presuming you have put in the annotations it will put them as part of the documentation.

Another tool would be Rational Application Developer which allows you to right click and generate the HTML documentation with pretty hyperlinked pictures.

edited Aug 04 '10 at 16:11

answered Aug 04 '10 at 16:05

Archimedes Trajano

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score 0 · Answer 10 · edited Nov 12 '12 at 05:06

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You can use iDocIt! to document a WSDL and export then the documentation to HTML. It is an open source Eclipse plugin downloadable here.

It provides a new approach of creating documentations with thematic grids and thematic roles, but you need not to use them. You can create documentations still as plain text.

edited Nov 12 '12 at 05:06

Dominik Honnef

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answered Sep 12 '11 at 12:23

Dirk

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Generating HTML documentation from WSDL

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