wrote:
> I actually have some local web service examples a previous programmer
> did. But I think I learn best by doing something myself no matter how
> simple.
>
> Can I create a WSDL that goes out to a remote server via HTTP and
> tells me the contents of an XML file?
You can create a web-service that returns an XML document.
You can create a WSDL file that describes that service.
You can use that WSDL to help create a client for that web-service.
> Can I make it that simple?
It isn't really that simple
> The question I have though is what executes the WSDL?
WSDL isn't executed. WSDL is a description, various automated tools can
read that description, some of them create a "stub" for the described
service. The stub is source code in a language of your choice (C#, Java
etc). You can then write a program (in C# java etc) that uses that stub.
>
> Can a WSDL be run in a web browser?
>
No. However some web-services toolkits will, as a side effect, create
web-pages that allow you to test your web-service. This isn't really how
web-services are normally used though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_services
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSDL