Actuate web services support interactions with BIRT iHub, from running and viewing designs to managing volume items. Actuate describes its services using Web Services Description Language (WSDL), an XML schema that provides the structure for requests to and responses from BIRT iHub.

A WSDL schema provides an abstract definition of the operations that a web service supports. The schema describes web services by providing such information as the name of the service, the transport protocol, data types, messages and operations, and input and output parameters. The schema binds these definitions to a concrete network protocol and message format. The WSDL schema resides on BIRT iHub.

The iHub WSDL schema serves as an interface to applications that integrate with BIRT iHub. The schema encompasses all web services accessible using the Actuate Information Delivery API. A developer can use the schema to generate a code library that contains the classes, including proxies, that the developer uses to write an application that communicates with a web service.

A developer can use an integrated development environment (IDE) to develop an application that uses the Information Delivery API schema. Actuate supplies WSDL files for the Apache Axis and Microsoft .NET development environments.

The elements of the iHub schema are case-sensitive. Capitalization must occur as the schema indicates. For example, to use the AuthId element of the complex data type Header, write AuthId instead of AuthID or authid.