What is the difference between XSD and WSDL?

XSD (XML Schema Definition) is a language for describing the structure and validation rules of XML documents. It defines which elements and attributes can be present, their types, order, and constraints.

WSDL (Web Services Description Language) is a language for describing web services, which uses XML and includes information about available methods, their parameters, data types (often referencing XSD), and message exchange protocols (e.g., SOAP).

In simpler terms:

• XSD describes the data structure (XML).
• WSDL describes the web service interface, including operations and data types used (often through XSD).

Example: WSDL can reference XSD to define the message types that the service accepts and returns.