Manually importing WSDL files

In the previous example, we were able to generate artifacts required to support calling a WCF Service by consuming a WSDL, or metadata exchange endpoint by specifying the URL for these artifacts. In some situations, this may not be possible if we are integrating with another party and network boundaries prevent us from accessing their service during the early development phase(s). When this situation arises, we do have the ability to import a WSDL file manually without having the access to the service.

In the previous example, when we were presented with the following screen, we chose to select Metadata Exchange (MEX) endpoint. If we want to select a WSDL file that has been provided to us via email or some other means, we can select Metadata Files (WSDL and XSD) instead. This will allow us to generate the required artifacts to call another service without having real-time access to the service.