4.12. Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) Registry

The Universal Description, Discovery and Integration Registry (UDDI) is a directory for web services. Use it to locate services by running queries through it at design- or run-time. Within an UDDI Registry, information is categorized in Pages. UDDI creates a standard interoperable platform that enables companies and applications to quickly, easily, and dynamically find and use Web services over the Internet. UDDI also allows operational registries to be maintained for different purposes in different contexts.

The UDDI also allows providers to publish descriptions of their services. The typical UDDI Registry will contain a uniform resource locator (URL) that points to both the WSDL document for the web services and the contact information for the service provider.

A business publishes services to the UDDI registry. A client looks up the service in the registry and receives service binding information. The client then uses the binding information to invoke the service. The UDDI APIs are SOAP-based for interoperability reasons.