[xml] Generating Request/Response XML from a WSDL

Is there a way to generate Request & Response XML formats from just a WSDL file - if the webservice is not live right now.

SoapUI doesn't give me the response unless it contacts the Webservice with a request. Is there any other tool which can do this?

I should assume this information is available - because without it - client stub frameworks like Axis/JAXWS etc won't be able to generate stubs for generating the requesting and then interpreting the response.

I use SOAPUI 5.3.0, it has an option for creating requests/responses (also using WSDL), you can even create a mock service which will respond when you send request. Procedure is as follows:

1. Right click on your project and select New Mock Service option which will create mock service.
2. Right click on mock service and select New Mock Operation option which will create response which you can use as template.

EDIT #1:

Check out the SoapUI link for the latest version. There is a Pro version as well as the free open source version.

Parasoft is a tool which can do this. I've done this very thing using this tool in my past work place. You can generate a request in Parasoft SOATest and get a response in Parasoft Virtualize. It does cost though. However Parasoft Virtualize now has a free community edition from which you can generate response messages from a WSDL. You can download from parasoft community edition

To test your WSDL file online links are :

https://wsdlbrowser.com/

https://wsdlanalyzer.com/

Since you are saying the webservice is not live right now, you can do it by creating mockservices which will create the sample response format.

The easiest way is to use this chrome extension link, happy web service requesting

Doing this yourself will give you insight into how a WSDL is structured and how it gets your job done. It is a good learning opportunity. This can be done using soapUI, if you only have the URL of the WSDL. (I'm using soapUI 5.2.1) If you actually have the complete WSDL as a file available to you, you don't even need soapUI. The title of the question says "Request & Response XML" while the question body says "Request & Response XML formats" which I interpret as the schema of the request and response. At any rate, the following will give you the schema which you can use on XSD2XML to generate sample XML.

1. Start a "New Soap Project", enter a project name and WSDL location; choose to "Create Requests", unselect the other options and click OK.
2. Under the "Project" tree on the left side, right-click an interface and choose "Show Interface Viewer".
3. Select the "WSDL Content" tab.
4. You should see the WSDL text on the right hand side; look for the block starting with "wsdl:types" below which are the schema for the input and output messages.
5. Each schema definition starts with something like <s:element name="GetWeather"> and ends with </s:element>.
6. Copy out the block into a text editor; above this block add: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <s:schema xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" elementFormDefault="qualified">
7. Below the block of copied XML, add </s:schema>
8. Decide if you need "UTF-16" instead of "UTF-8"
9. The "s:" and the "xmlns:s" should match the block you copied (step 5)
10. Save this file with ".xsd" extension; if you have "XML Copy Editor" or some such tool (XML Spy, may be) you should check that this is well-formed XML and valid schema.
11. Repeat for all "element" items in the right hand pane of soapUI until you reach
12. This way you'll get some type definitions you might not be interested in. If you want to pick and choose, use the following method: Look through the "wsdl:operation" items under "wsdl:portType" in the WSDL text below the type definitions. They will have "wsdl:input" and "wsdl:output". Take the message names from "wsdl:input" and "wsdl:output". Match them against "wsdl:message" names which will likely be above the "wsdl:portType" entries in the WSDL. Get the "wsdl:part" element name from "wsdl:message" item and look for that name as element name under "wsdl:types". Those will be the schema of interest to you.

You can try above procedure out using the WSDL at http://www.webservicex.com/globalweather.asmx?wsdl