In general, the typical Web services architecture includes an application acting as the Web services client (as shown by the ABL client in Figure 19). This Web services client is an application that can access one or more Web services, typically using the APIs provided by client interfaces. A Web service client interface simplifies client programming by presenting the Web service interface directly in the native programming language of the client (ABL, Java, .NET, and so on). The API to access this Web service interface is often encapsulated in the client interface as objects designed for the particular client language. Client development platforms either allow you to generate a a complete client interface directly from a given WSDL file or generate complete documentation on how to access and invoke operations in the Web service, further simplifying client development.

For more information on how OpenEdge supports client access to Web services from ABL, see the OpenEdge support for consuming Web services.