WS-Inspection
A web service provider publishes a service description for consumers. This is typically published as a WSDL document. The service provider registers a reference to the service description in a centralized registry, typically UDDI. The consumer locates a reference to the service description by looking up the registry and requests the service description from the service provider. The description document is usually emailed to the consumer, limiting the dynamic discovery and use of the service.
The WS-Inspection specification allows for dynamic discovery of service documents. WS-Inspection is XML-based and provides an aggregation of references to service descriptions. A WS-Inspection document does not describe a service—it just helps in locating a desired description document. Generally, a WS-Inspection document is made available at the point of contact of the service. The consumer parses this document to retrieve the references to the service descriptions and selects a desired...
