Either WSDL or wsimport and wsdl (mono) are horribly broken

Question

EDIT I started off with the example given below, but I have now:

• Tried the example from the W3C spec. After fixing another error (binding was

Answer 1

If I remember correctly, wsimport requires external namespaces to be imported in order to use elements of them in the WSDL file. In your case:

 <import namespace="http://example/schema/OrdersService"/>

Answer 2

Although the question is rather old, here's a working WSDL:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<wsdl:definitions name="OrdersService"
  xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
  xmlns:wsdl="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/"
  xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap/"
  xmlns:os="http://example/schema/OrdersService"
  xmlns:tns="http://example/ns/OrdersService"
  targetNamespace="http://example/ns/OrdersService">

  <wsdl:types>
    <xsd:schema targetNamespace="http://example/schema/OrdersService">

      <xsd:element name="GetOrders">
        <xsd:complexType>
          <xsd:sequence>
            <xsd:element name="criteria" type="xsd:string" />
          </xsd:sequence>
        </xsd:complexType>
      </xsd:element>

      <xsd:element name="GetOrdersResponse">
        <xsd:complexType>
          <xsd:all>
            <xsd:element name="orders" type="xsd:string" />
          </xsd:all>
        </xsd:complexType>
      </xsd:element>

    </xsd:schema>
  </wsdl:types>

  <wsdl:message name="GetOrdersRequest">
    <wsdl:part name="parameters" element="os:GetOrders" />
  </wsdl:message>

  <wsdl:message name="GetOrdersResponse">
    <wsdl:part name="parameters" element="os:GetOrdersResponse" />
  </wsdl:message>

  <wsdl:portType name="GetOrdersPortType">
    <wsdl:operation name="GetOrders">
      <wsdl:input message="tns:GetOrdersRequest" />
      <wsdl:output message="tns:GetOrdersResponse" />
    </wsdl:operation>
  </wsdl:portType>

  <wsdl:binding name="GetOrdersBinding" type="tns:GetOrdersPortType">
    <soap:binding style="document"
       transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http" />
    <wsdl:operation name="GetOrders">
      <soap:operation soapAction="" />
      <wsdl:input>
        <soap:body use="literal" />
      </wsdl:input>
      <wsdl:output>
        <soap:body use="literal" />
      </wsdl:output>
    </wsdl:operation>
  </wsdl:binding>

  <wsdl:service name="OrdersService">
    <wsdl:port name="GetOrdersPort" binding="tns:GetOrdersBinding">
      <soap:address
         location="http://localhost:8080/svc/OrdersService/GetOrders" />
    </wsdl:port>
  </wsdl:service>

</wsdl:definitions>

Things that I've changed:

• set xmlns:xsd to http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema instead of http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema (the 1999 version is quite outdated)

• removed namespace identified from the schema elements (GetOrders instead of o:GetOrders and GetOrdersResponse instead of os:GetOrdersResponse) (namespace qualifiers are not allowed within the name attribute of an element or type definition)

• used the correct types for the subelements criteria and orders: xsd:string instead of string

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I agree, that a WSDL might be difficult in the beginning, however, once you have a grip on it, there's nothing better than a clearly defined interface. If I had a choice, I would prefer a wsdl over a json-REST-API without hesitation. But I guess that's a matter of taste ;-)